Farmers' artistry, ingenuity to be featured in Batac festival

Category : Lifestyle | Sub Category : Arts & Culture Posted on 2025-04-30 02:41:25

PNA

BATAC CITY – A four-day festival in this city gets more creative and playful this year with the addition of sledge and hat-making contests to the usual events meant to celebrate the artistry and ingenuity of farmers.

At the opening of the festival on May 1, 2025, the manual construction of “pasagad” will be showcased to demonstrate the do-it-yourself skills of farmers.

"Pasagad," or sledge, is usually made of indigenous materials and used as a carrier for various crops before the time of mechanized farming.

Aside from rekindling the art of "pasagad"-making, "farmers can look forward to participating in a hat-making contest [using] indigenous materials to display their weaving skills while women from the Rural Improvement Clubs of the city will also display their prowess in miki cook-off," Batac City agriculturist Mark Abad told the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday.

Apart from the famous empanada, Batac's homemade “miki" (noodles) is also among the reasons why visitors are drawn to the city, particularly the riverside, which has become a popular food hub located across the Imelda Cultural Center.

Like in previous years, this year's festival will also feature a grand parade of floats created by rural villages, each embodying this year's theme: “Nasamit a Balligi, Mangpabileg ti Ili (Sweet Success, Empowering Community).”

The grand parade, which is among the most anticipated part of the festival, will be held on May 3.

The festivities will culminate on May 4 with a dance showdown involving farmers' organizations.

According to Abad, winners of various competitions will receive attractive prizes.

A raffle draw will also be held to add more excitement to the event.