On to MassKara 34!

The party will soon be over, but the memories will remain. The 33rd celebration of the MassKara Festival of Bacolod will officially end today, with the street dancing and arena competitions winners awarded, but it will take a long, long time for the euphoria to fade, especially from the barangays and schools that made their mark in this edition of the festival by grabbing the top prizes and awards. The time has come for them all to dream and plan for the next year’s contest, and the hefty prizes and the honors victory brings.

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The celebrations last night were capped with a dinner and program for the balikbayan and special guests of the city at the Government Center, where hundreds representing various countries gathered and bonded with each other. It was very heartwarming to see people, visitors of the city, from so many nationalities, some in delegations, like those of the U.S., Guam and Japan. As called out for recognition during the party, the visitors represented such countries as Japan, the United States, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Thailand, Singapore, France, Argentina, Switzerland, and even Russia! I might have missed some countries, but it is clear that our MassKara has truly become an international attraction.

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Probably the biggest delegation was that headed by Rose and Fred David from Guam, who distinguished themselves by wearing yellow T-shirts carrying the MassKara logo. They really made up a colorful and enthusiastic group. Another big one was from Japan, headed – as in virtually all previous MassKara celebrations – by the energetic Eleanor Alonsagay Fukuda, a very successful businesswoman in Tokyo. Of course the U.S. arrivals were not very easy to account for, since many of them had arrived days before and were scattered among their folks in the city and in neighboring towns and cities.

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Dinner was a bit delayed, as officials were still at the public plaza where the proclamation of the winners was taking place. It had been delayed, too, because of some rain earlier, but, true to MassKara fashion, the rains always stopped when the main events came on. This happened also on Saturday night when the second Electric MassKara parade was held at Lacson Street. At a little past 7 p.m. the rain poured, and the thousands of merrymakers pulsing through the street, huddled under the colorful tents set up along the sidewalks. But the weather cleared beautifully when the parade started, allowing the excited crowds to gape and gush over the very artistically crafted floats and the costumes of the dancers on board them.

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One could not help wondering where all those thousands of fun-loving people had come from. The city’s public plaza was full of them, as was the Lacson Strip. And, thankfully, it seemed everyone was focused on having fun, because, as of late last night, everything seemed peaceful. Of course great credit should go to our police office that had also called for assistance from other units to help keep the festival orderly and free of untoward incidents. For sure the presence of so many uniformed men, standing around in buddy-buddy fashion, was one big deterrent to anyone who may have different ideas of fun.

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There was laughter and there were tears at the balikbayan affair where Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson and Mayor Bing Leonardia addressed the visitors. A moving moment was when Rose David, who made the response for the Guam group, became sentimental as she spoke about her appreciation for what her city had become. Her speech brought lumps to the throats of others present, too. It was the same with Eleonor Fukuda, who despite having lost her voice, managed to convey her love and support for her homeland quite emotionally. Eva Salvador, who spoke on behalf of their team leader from Los Angeles, California, Al Denila, disclosed that Al, who was in town, was not feeling well, and missed the party. Of course we all missed Al, a very frequent “homecomer” who has been always supportive of Bacolod’s projects.

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But everyone soon forgot to be sentimental when the music began and John Orola who was the life of the party, opened the dance and soon had the partygoers on the floor displaying various interpretations of both modern dances and those of long ago. Virtually every group was represented in the line dance that drew a lot of participants. The party was still raging when we had to leave to go back to our “salt mines”, write this column, and put the STAR to bed. Tonight, there will still be some action with the awarding of the winners and fireworks to lit up the sky as a dramatic way of telling our visitors, “This is just to say, Till we meet again, it is not Goodbye!”.*

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