Downpour fails to dampen Dagupan bangus street party

DAGUPAN CITY – A heavy downpour failed to dampen the enthusiasm of some 300,000 Dagupeños and visitors in joining the grilling of bangus (milkfish) along the more than one kilometer stretch of A.B. Fernandez Avenue here during the Bangusan Street Party Wednesday night up to dawn.

Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, who represented her husband, Senate President Manny Villar; Gina de Venecia, wife of Pangasinan fourth district Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr.; former Guimaras governor Emily Lopez, together with Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez and local officials, led the ceremonial lighting of the 600 grills set up along the road past 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Villar said she didn’t expect the street party to be a real crowd-drawer and a happy occasion here.

“I have attended several festivals but this is the most exciting,” she said. She and the other guests walked along A.B. Fernandez Avenue, cheered by Dagupeños dancing to the Bangus Festival song.

However, immediately after the lighting when people were ready to grill their bangus, there was a sudden heavy downpour that lasted for more than two hours.

While some were dismayed, majority stayed on until past midnight, as popular bands, mostly from Metro Manila, provided non-stop entertainment on nine stages.

Vice Mayor Fernandez, who chairs the Bangus Festival 2008, saw the heavy downpour as a blessing, saying the people might have suffered from heat stroke because of the jam-packed crowd.

“Ang tao nagpayong, nagtiyaga at hindi umalis (The people used their umbrellas, patiently waited and never left),” she said.

She said the tremendous support and unity of various sectors, sponsors and all who came made the event successful.

“It’s a different thing when there is teamwork because you get good results,” she added.

Mayor Fernandez said they intend to make the Bangus Festival into a foundation and make other components of the event bigger in the succeeding years.

It was in May 2003 when this city, known as the “Bangus Capital of the World,” bagged the Guinness record for the longest barbeque with its 1.007-kilometer simultaneous grilling of bangus.

The mayor said 27,000 pieces of bangus were grilled Wednesday night and 120 sacks of charcoal were used to replace the rain-soaked charcoal.

Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, city police chief, said he is happy that no untoward incidents occurred during the event.