Urdaneta City Fiesta 2007 - Grand Parade

Today marked another year as Urdaneta City commenced the festivities for its annual City Fiesta which runs from December 1^st to the 9^th.

Early on before the parade, throngs of people have gathered on the sidewalks to get a good viewing position of the parade. Alexander street, where the parade is always held was relatively peaceful and still wide as people waited in the shade. It was a good chance to run into someone you have never seen in a long time. As time passed, though, one could notice that the throngs have gotten thicker and the street had narrowed to half its original size. It was further reduced to a half a lane when people heard the sound of drums from a distance as the parade approached.

We took a bunch of pictures so you can judge for yourself how it went. To be fair we are giving both sides. The highs and the lows.

The Highs:

1. Instead of the traditional fundraising contest Miss Urdaneta the organizers decided to hold a Mrs. Urdaneta contest instead. The money raised goes to the city coffers so it can make further improvements for the citizens to enjoy.
2. The parade was relatively short and didn’t take till noon as it normally did.
3. The Drum and Lyre corps were well dressed and played catchy music to entertain the crowd.
4. Other ethnic groups such as the Ilocanos, Igorots and Muslims were recognized and asked to participate in the Parade.
5. Some street dancing was present.
6. The parade was concluded by a motorcycle riders club who showed off their cool souped up machines.

The Lows

1. The barricades were useless. As soon as the parade started, there wasn’t enough room for the participants to smoothly traverse the route as people flocked to get a closer look.
2. Impressive floats were few if not non existent. For those who can remember, the floats have not changed at all for the last 20 years. The same old mini truck stuffed with lilies and other flowers.
3. Schools and other offices forcing their faculty and students to walk in the parade. This makes the lines long and honestly, who wants to watch miles and miles of thirsty, sunburned and irate people who didn’t want to be there in the first place?
4. The parade almost seemed like a display of the city’s dump and garbage trucks as they were the vehicles of choice for the government offices to display their staff and employees.

In conclusion, this has got to be one of the crappiest parades we have ever seen. The only consolation is that it wasn’t as long as the other parades of recent years. We apologize to the citizens of Urdaneta, especially the organizers and participants of the Grand Parade for giving such harsh comments. But if we are to become a first class city, we should be able to give the citizens something to really look forward to. Not just an excuse to go downtown. The organizers should be able to display a presentable parade on Urdaneta City’s best day.

Urdaneta City University and Pan Pacific University of Northern Philippines, we will be watching your parades and see who gives a better show.

Stay posted for more updates on the other events in the 2007 Urdaneta City Fiesta! Videos also to be posted soon!