(SARIAYA, QUEZON – PHILIPPINES)— Universal Robina Corporation, through its Flour Division, has partnered with the local government unit of Sariaya, Quezon and the Sariaya Tourism Culture and the Arts Office (STCAO) for a bigger and grander celebration of this year’s Agawan Festival.
The Agawan Festival is an annual harvest festival held in Sariaya, Quezon every May 15 in honor of Saint Isidore the Laborer, the patron saint of agriculture and good harvest. The celebration is known as the “Happy Pandemonium” and is one of the four harvest festivals celebrated in the province of Quezon.
During the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Sariaya Mayor Marcelo Gayeta and his wife, Marivic Gayeta, who is currently heading the organizing committee of this year’s Agawan Festival, welcomed the sponsorship of URC Flour Division.
The URC Flour Division is one of the top flour millers in the Philippines. With plants located in Manila, Sariaya, and Davao, the division has a combined milling capacity of 2,150 metric tons per day. The state-of-the-art flour mills and blending facilities allow the division to manufacture customized products that fit the specific needs of its customers.
URC’s sponsorship of the Agawan Festival 2024 is the company’s way of appreciating Sariaya’s support when the town welcomed the opening and operation of their flour mills and blending facilities located in Barangay Talaan, Aplaya Road in Sariaya, Quezon.
The company will sponsor some of the activities including: the “Pinagong” eating activity targeting 3,000 people; the “Agawan sa Bagakay” with special prizes to be won by participants; and the Street Dance contest where dancers will be using “upcycled” sacks as their costume. URC will be donating used flour sacks for the dancers to use in their presentation.
The annual Agawan Festival features a fiesta procession where people playfully snatch goodies and other produce hanging from the houses (or “pabitin”) as the parade winds its way down the streets. Colorful buntal hats are festooned all over the façade of houses. String beans are draped on windows like curtains, and banana leaves are used to adorn fences. The most traditional elements in the decorations are the bagakay, or young bamboo branches from which junk food, native delicacies such as the kiping, fruits, candies and money, are hung for people to collect as they pass by.
The annual festivities will be celebrating its 25th year this 2024. The term “Agawan” was coined by the town’s former parish priest Rev. Fr. Raul Enriquez, who was also the former president of Sariaya Tourism Council, and the proponent of the town’s Quadricentennial celebration in 1999.
For complete details of Agawan Festival 2024, visit the official FaceBook page of Sariaya Tourism Culture and the Arts Office: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558511802745
