Strawberry fields forever...
the opening of the Strawberry Festival
in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines.
La Trinidad is a town right after Baguio City, Philippines. It is the capital town of the Province of Benguet. It is known as the Strawberry Capital and Rose Capital of the Philippines. It is also known as the "Valley of Colors." Right in the heart of the town, surrounded by mountains is the famous strawberry farm. While roses and other flowers and vegetables are usually grown on the other parts of the town.
Brief History
The Strawberry Festival was first celebrated in 1981 mainly to encourage the farmers to include strawberries in their crop.
It became famous in 2004 when various bakers within the municipality joined hands to produce the World's Largest Strawberry Shortcake. It is recognized by Guinness Book of World Records and the town still holds the title to this day.
This is the Guinness Book of World Record title holder.
Weight: 9,622.24
Height: 1.5 meters
Width: 1.8 meters
Length: 2.5 meters
No. of Servings: More than 10,000 slices
(Photo not mine. Grabbed from https://philippinebookofrecords.com/largest-fruit-shortcake/)
Just this week, the trade fair in the municipal grounds has started. It so happened that I went to the Benguet Provincial Capitol which is a kilometer away so I decided to walk going to the trade fair.
Sweating it out.
It's like a walk in the park.
I passed through Benguet State University
to avoid smoke from the passing cars along Halsema Highway.
When I arrived in the trade fair, some shops are still setting up their displays.
This is what I have captured so far:
such as jams, strawberry preserves and pastries.
The festival is celebrated month long every March and features various activities like fun run, strawberry eating contest, cake making contest, heaviest strawberry contest, largest strawberry contest, battle of the bands, beauty pageant and a lot more.
Back in 2019, my dad enjoined me and my sister in the fun run and got a ticket for the "Duting tan Dukto". We chose the 3K fun run which starts and ends at the municipal hall grounds. After the fun run, we showed our ticket to the "Duting tan Dukto" and had a hearty healthy breakfast meal.
The meal consists of boiled Sweet Potato, Fresh Strawberries, Strawberry Preserve with yoghurt, Fresh romain lettuce, boiled sweet corn, boiled egg
and slices of grilled pork.
On the other pictures are me, my dad and my sister holding our certificates from the fun run and a picture with my cousins who also joined the fun run.
For those who plan to travel to Northern Philippines, you might want to drop by La Trinidad and celebrate with them. Here is the calendar of activities for the festival:
Photo from the Official Facebook Page of the Mayor's Office of La Trinidad, Benguet. Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4NcWZuytkKJ1J6FU/?mibextid=oFDknk
📌Hi. I'm Cate. These are my personal strawberry-related gallery favorites:
Craving for strawberries? You shouldn't miss this. It tastes sweeter in La Trinidad Strawberry Festival.🍓