Villasis folk all fired up for 2007 Guinness attempt

VILLASIS, Pangasinan — With about 10,000 people gathered for the successful grilling of 3,000 kilos of eggplants in its first-ever Talong Grill Festival the other day, the town is all fired up for next year’s attempt to land in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest grill.

Mayor Nonato Abrenica told The STAR that it was the happiest fiesta celebration ever for the townsfolk.

Despite the scorching heat of the sun, high school students made the affair more colorful as they, clad in unique costumes using the eggplant’s dominant colors, gaily danced during the street dancing competition at noon.

"How we performed today would determine our attempt to land in the Guinness," Abrenica said.

He said last Wednesday’s first Talong Grill Festival was only a dry-run, with 500 grills, each measuring one meter, lined up from town hall to the Bagsakan (Trading Post) Market along MacArthur Highway.

With the unique festival grabbing the attention of the local and national media, alongside another event, the "101 Ways of Cooking Talong," Abrenica said Villasis has surely become one of the country’s promising towns.

"Pang world-class na ang Villasis ngayon kasi napanood sa television ’yung festival natin sa buong mundo (Villasis is now world-class because our festival was viewed live on television around the world)," he said.

In fact, he said he has received several congratulatory messages from Villasinians around the globe.

This old town, founded sometime in the 17th century, literally lives on talong and other pinakbet ingredients like okra, ampalaya, squash, and tomatoes, among other vegetables, as about 80 percent of its people depend on agriculture.

"We are trying to regain our old glory as the ‘vegetable bowl of Pangasinan’ as well as the country’s ‘pinakbet capital,’" he said.

Abrenica said they want the people to be aware of Villasis’ potentials through its products, foremost of which is its long, smooth, chemical-free talong (eggplants), which is of the East-West variety.

"We produce the best eggplants here and we have proven to everyone that our eggplants are not only good for pinakbet and omelets but also a hundred other ways," he said.

Abrenica thanked the towns—folk for their cooperation as well as his Innovations Group chaired by Nap Viernes and the festival’s sponsors because the affair was a success even if the municipal government did not spend a single centavo for it.

"Iba na ang dating ng Villasis ngayon," said Abrenica, adding that investors have started to come in.

Villasis town is situated along the highway between Rosales town and Urdaneta City.

In the street party that followed the festival, the townsfolk grilled pork chops, chicken, bangus (another famous Pangasinan product), and tilapia, while enjoying the music of a live band.

Francisco Montero, 84, a retired teacher and a resident of Barangay San Nicolas, told The STAR that this was the only grand event he has witnessed in the town since his birth.

"Dahil sa talong, tumaas ang pride namin. Itong ginawa ni mayor ay maganda (Because of the eggplant, our pride is high. What the mayor did is good)," he said.

Villasis has a land area of more than 6,000 hectares, 298 of which are devoted to eggplant cultivation alone. Of its 21 barangays, 17 are suited for vegetable production.

According to Abrenica, 372 Villasis farmers are engaged in eggplant cultivation, enjoying an average harvest of 30 tons per hectare.

To protect the farmers from middlemen and make them enjoy more the fruits of their labor, the municipal government has put up the Bagsakan Market, which it formally inaugurated last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Abrenica said they have another reason to be happy because Villasis was recently reclassified into a second-class municipality because its annual income has exceeded P40 million.

He said he is optimistic that Villasis will soon become a first-class town because its income, as of December 2005, has reached P62 million, way beyond the P50-million income required for such a classification.