One of the entries in the Tourism Kite Festival of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental. (Photo courtesy of Sipalay City Tourism Development and Promotions Office)
BACOLOD CITY -- The annual kite festival of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental is promoting the reduction of plastic waste in the 2019 edition of the award-winning tourism event.
Jerick Lacson, city tourism officer, said on Tuesday that this year, the entries will not use plastic as materials.
“This is part of the efforts of the city to reduce plastic waste in events and festivals,” Lacson said.
The three-day Burangoy Tourism Kite Festival, which kicked off on Monday, is being held at the Poblacion Beach of the southern Negros city.
Lacson said the event, now on its seventh year, has grown from a small kite-flying activity, initiated by former tourism officer Rhia Carbajosa, to become one of the biggest kite festivals in Western Visayas.
“Burangoy” is coined from the words “burador” or kite, and “barongoy”, a local term for flying fish.
The Sipalay kite festival is the grand winner in the Best Tourism Event (Sports) City Category of the 2018 Pearl Awards organized by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines and the Department of Tourism.
The city government, through the Tourism Development and Promotions Office, is holding the event this week in partnership with the Kite Association of the Philippines.
Activities include the kite design and flying competition on March 27; fun kite-flying exhibition on March 25-28; wind garden on March 26; and the newly-added trike and trisikad kite design contest on March 26-27.
The kite design and flying competition has four categories -- Flat Kites, which is open to all schools in the city; Barongoy Kite, for locals and organizations; and Figure Kite and Geometric Kites, for all kite enthusiasts.
The kite workshop held on Monday promotes kite-making and kite-flying among elementary school children.
The fun kite-flying exhibitions will be the showcase of various kite designs from the facilitators, which can also be tried by locals and guests.
The wind garden is a showcase of colorful pinwheels in a specific area. (PNA)
