Sunday, February 20, 2005

Aurora Day 2005 Summary

The gig went well and all events flowed smoothly. Not as pompous as the previous Suman Festivals (this year the festival for the suman was officially dead). With a relatively modest budget of 1 million pesos (according to the Philippine Star report posted below) this one looks like all those bucks went where they really should belong. Kudos to the Governor and her officials as well as Mr. Christopher Gonzales, the new Tourism Officer and the Chairman of this year's celebration.

Here are some pictures from the week-long celebration:




The opening of the 9th Aurora Surfing Cup at the Labasin Beach on February 15. The new watchtower was also inaugurated.



Also on February 15, the Agro Industrial Trade Fair was opened at the Capitol Grounds. A Beach Bazaar was also opened at Labasin.



The Batangbaler booth at the Beach Bazaar - sun, sea, and shopping. Most of the booths were food shops and there were three tattoo shops but the top grossing store was the unofficial Ka Siming's sari-sari and turo-turo.



Aurora Pop Superstar. The best singers and dancers competed during the Tuklas Talino contest at the Capitol on the night of the 15th. With the program title I first thought it was a quiz bee.



Students competed for two days at the TESDA Provincial Skills Olympics held at the Municipal Plaza and the different colleges in Baler.



The audience during the CAT and Drum and Lyre Competition at the Capitol on February 16.



There was also a weeklong sportsfest among the different government agencies of Aurora



A foot trail was made for the Heritage Tour of the different historical spots in Baler. It started from the Church and ended at the Quezon park. The mystery of the footprints solved.



A local thrasher showing his stuff during the Aurora Skateboarding Cup 2005 at the Municipal Plaza.



Ms. Mary Joyce Cindy L. Zapata from Dingalan, the winner of the Bb. Aurora beauty pageant with Gov. Castillo, Cong. Sonny Angara, judge Azenith Briones and last year's Ms. Aurora. Other prominent judges were Ma. Isabel Lopez, Jean Saburit and a Pinoy Pop Superstar finalist. The pageant was hosted by John Arcilla and Ms. Melissa Lyn Amarillo.



On December 18th, a one day shootfest, the First Governor's Cup, was held at the APSA Firing Range at the Aurora Trading Center compound.



The parade of the participants of the Street Dancing Competition. This year, all teams were required to interpret an original composition titled Pagsibol.



The ASCOT team won the grand prize even though they didn't smile a bit during their entire performance. They also did not wear colorful costumes, just painted their bodies gold.




San Miguel Beer erected a stage on the highway for the street party. The Street Party, though I saw nobody partying- just drinking beers, featured performances by local bands like Ginger, Kwak-Kwak (in the picture), and a "famous" band from Manila called Workstation. I swear Ginger played better.



A surfer from Siargao, Carlito Nogalo, bagged this year's Aurora Surfing Cup. Last year's winner, Okoy Rojo was not even in the top 12. Must be the new girlfriend. On the picture were some of the top 12 surfers of the contest with Gov. Castillo, Cong. Angara and Cong. Pichay who donated 100 thousand to the event. The Governor gave away more than 150,000 pesos in prizes.



A grand fireworks display was staged in front of the Capitol on the night of the 18th. This one beats the Phillippine-Spanish Friendship Day fireworks by a blast.



The street dancing winners during the grand parade on February 19.



John Arcilla receiving a Dangal ng Bayan award from the Governor. He was the first recipient for the performing arts. Other awardees were Sen. Edgardo Angara for Leadership and Public Service, Mr. Epitacio Palispis for Education and Mr. Jeho Bitancor for Visual Arts.

More pictures to come.

::

Notice: Heck, that Ethel Booba scandal nearly used up all of Batangbaler's bandwidth for 1 month. Based on the stats Batangbaler is now getting 600 to 900 hits per day instead of the usual 300 to 400.I have an Ethel Booba article and all those web searches for her sex video keeps driving unwanted traffics to this site that in a day or two Batangbaler will stop serving contents to your computers. If that happens, i'll try to redirect some traffic or you can wait 'til March when BB's bandwitdth will reset.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good pictures. More please :)

Anonymous said...

NICE PICTURES. GOOD JOB WEB MASTER. KEEP IT UP!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! cool pictures! Am very excited to see more. Thanks for the effort. Miss you all.

Anonymous said...

i really regret having not gone to atttend aurora day...sayang talaga, i've seen the pics at tingin ko sobrang saya sana, next time i'll really find time para makapunta sa baler for the celebration......

one thing more, tapos naman na ata aurora day bat d pa kaya bumabalik dito sa manila si joy aragon? kaw t2 joy ha, baka nakikipag oronan ka laang diyan kay hudini?

uwi na!

Anonymous said...

Batang Baler You are Impeccably amazing, just putting up this WEBSITE i think is really Bigdeal. Thank you for being such a fervent guardian to EVERYTHING that is goin in and out of Baler/ Aurora. this is such an amazing idea, i couldnt put my feelings toward this endeavor. Your pic2rs are so artistic and candid. do you take those urself? akkaw ang galing mu igan!I cant thank you just a thousand times for featuring such important events in our lives as Balerianos or Auroranians. More Power, Mabuhay ang Baler, Mabuhay Ka at Pagpalain. God Bless u.

Anonymous said...

I know this is coming a bit late, but just the same: Maraming salamat po sa lahat ng sumuporta at tumangkilik sa nakaraang Aurora Day celebrations!!

Despite the calamities and the short lead time (barely a month), we were able to pull off a modest yet dignified and meaningful celebration that went back to the founding of the province as its main inspiration. The success of the celebration would not have been possible without the full support of the Governor and the various committees composed of representatives from national and local officers, LGUs,POs, NGOs, and the private sector.

For those who have been asking about what festival the province will carry, we would like to inform you that the Provincial Tourism Office is now in the process of research and consultation with the various sectors on a reconceptualized and repositioned festival.A genuine festival is one that reflects the soul of a locality, one that articulates the dreams and aspirations of a people. Thus, it is essential to look deep into our heritage to bring out a concept/idea that would best embody our province.Kaunting pasensya lang po.

On a personal note, allow me to thank Kidlat for his all-out support to the various Aurora Day activities. For the information of everyone, it was Kidlat who designed the much-praised cover of the Aurora Day souvenir program. It was also Kidlat who lent some of the images used in the production of the new Aurora brochure. Maraming salamat din for the for the extensive post-event publicity in your site.

Kita-kita po tayo muli sa susunod na Aurora Day celebrations!