After a thanksgiving mass and foot parade to start the day, the Month Long Fiesta Celebration of Catbalogan City came in full swing last August 1.

The mass started at 8:00 in the morning at the City Plaza with Rev. Fr. Jose Calderon as the officiating priest. Both city employees and officials gathered to hear the mass meant to be a solemn signal for the start of the fiesta.

This was followed with a foot parade participated in by athletes of the City Hall Inter-Department Sportsfest and the Inter-Barangay Basketball Tournament.

The City Government chose the theme, “Paglaum... A Celebration Despite Adversities” to define this year’s celebration in honor of St. Bartholomew. The occasion, which will last throughout the month of August was expected to have a low key observance in response to the crisis that the city is facing.

As an income-generating project, portions of the City Plaza was rented out for business purposes. One side of the plaza was reserved for the food fair while the other side was for the Agro-Industrial Trade Fair, which featured local products from other municipalities. The latter was conducted through a partnership of the City Government with the Department of Trade and Industry – Samar.

This crisis meant that the sponsorship of the City Fiesta will be given to the highest bidder, which turned out to be San Miguel Beer in and Coca Cola. Both companies provided the tents, coolers, for concessionaires participating in the food fair at the City Plaza.

Patrons of the food fair provided a ready audience for the different evening presentations that were prepared for the rest of August. The rally-cum-concert “One Voice for Change”, which was sponsored by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), led the line-up and added a serious theme to the fiesta as it urged youth of voting age to register for the coming elections.
Cultural presentations from different schools figure prominently in this line-up of activities with Guinsorongan Integrated School being the first to perform on the second day. Other schools are also set to stage their respective cultural presentations in the next two weeks.

Other major activities to watch out for are the Miss Manaragat, the Festival Showdown and the Inter-Clustered Barangay Cultural Competitions.