VIGAN CITY — Some 15,000 tourists and thousands more of Ilocos residents crammed the major streets in this World Heritage City to witness the 5th edition of the annual longganiza street dancing festival here last Sunday.
The street dancing festival started on Quezon Ave. and ended on Mena Crisologo St., followed by a showdown and longganiza eating contest.
Vigan City Mayor Ferdinand C. Medina said this year’s longganiza street dancing contest was different from those of the previous years as two categories of the competition were open to contingents from all provinces and cities nationwide.
The first category was exclusively for the elementary and high school levels, with three groups of participants, while the second was an open category for seven groups of participants. These participants came from Ilocos Norte, La Union, Candon City and towns in Metro Vigan.
Nasangalan Elementary School won in the first category and received a prize of R50,000 while those from San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, won in the second category and received a R50,000 prize.
"Our concept on this year’s longganiza street dancing festival is to promote the packaging system of longganiza products, aiming to strengthen the product’s identity and origin, make it more attractive and induce bigger demand not only in local markets but also in the export markets," he said.
According to Mayor Medina, the city government has already extended R100,000 in soft loans to the first six longganiza producers in the city. The money will be used to produce colorful, attractive and suitable packaging materials.
The packaging materials must bear Vigan City’s seal of excellence, the name, address and contact numbers of the producers.
"With the increasing demand and patronage of the famous delectably cooked longganiza, we are now preparing to introduce Vigan longganiza globally by initiating efforts that would make it more presentable, competitive and highly viable while maintaining its unique taste," he said.
The making of improvements in the packaging of the Vigan longganisa had something to do in meeting the standards and quality required from exportable commodities.
He disclosed that after perfecting the packaging, Vigan longganiza will be sold in the market bearing the nutrient information labels.
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