12th Ubi Festival opens Wednesday

This Wednesday, Boholanos will witness the opening of the 12th Annual Ubi Festival, celebrating the rootcrop which has become a permanent part of Boholano heritage.

The day will begin with a morning motorcade from the Provincial Capitol Annex Building, along major thoroughfares of the city, to the Plaza Rizal, where the opening program will be held at nine o’clock.

The Ubifest is an annual festival celebrating the rootcrop in time to meet the year’s first ubi harvest.  It is spearheaded by the provincial government through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, with the coordination of the Department of Agriculture through the Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center, Agricultural Training Institute, and the Central Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center – Bohol Experimental Station, and other agencies of the national government.

The 12th Ubi Festival will be held at the Plaza Rizal and the Acacia Garden of the Provincial Capitol Grounds as festival venue and bears the theme “Ubi: Gasa sa Kinaiyahan, sa Katawhang Bol-anon Paga-ampingan.”

The Ubifest will run until Friday, with the closing and awarding ceremonies, although the product display will continue on until Saturday, January 21.

The product display will feature the different kinds of ubi harvested by the farmers of the participating ubi-growing municipalities and the products of ubi processors.  Other key players of the ubi industry will also be participating in this year’s Ubifest.

As a festivity of the ubi crop harvest, the Ubifest is incorporated with local Boholano cultural arts and features contests in different literary and musical categories for representatives of the exhibiting municipalities.

Categories under the literary contests are Ubi Balak, Ubi Story Writing, and Ubi Poster Making Contest, while the musical category consists of the Ubi Kuradang Contest and the Ubi Rap/Jingle Contest.

Also up this year is the Search for Miss Ubi Festival 2012 which will be held Wednesday afternoon at the Activity Center of the Island City Mall, and will feature beautiful, young candidates from the exhibiting municipalities who will be judged on their talent, confidence, and intelligence.

With the province proud of its harvest of the identity-bearer high value crop, separate contests in the Ubi Harvest Category will also be conducted, as have been held in the previous Ubifests. The contests under this category are the PINAKA Search for the Best Ubi Harvest and Endemic Crops Harvest, Most Promising Ubi Product, Most Promising Ubi Cuisine, and the Best LGU- Exhibitor-Booth.

All contests during the festival will be conducted at the Plaza Rizal or the Acacia Garden, except for the Search for Miss Ubi Festival 2012 and the Ubi Story Writing Contest.

E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR UBI STORY WRITING CONTEST

Regarding the ubi story writing contest, the organizers are requesting those who have already submitted their works to submit again to the following email address: elinoevangelista@yahoo.com.au by the deadline date of January 18, 2012.

The submission must still bear the subject heading: Ubi Story Writing Contest submission.  All other contest guidelines and the criteria remain the same.

The winning writer will be notified by the Board of Judges on January 19, 2012 and must be present to receive the award in person during the closing ceremonies on January 20, 2011.

The winning entry shall become the property of the management, although authorship will remain with the writer. (with reports from Alex Carl Taran, OPA Promotion Section)