Bacolod City , for the third consecutive year, will celebrate the BacoLaodiat Festival Feb. 7-10, with the Capitol Shopping Center as the main activity center, as 2008 ushers in the Year of the Earth Rat in the Chinese lunar calendar.

The Capitol Shopping Center is considered the base of Chinese heritage in the city and a symbol of the enduring partnership between the Filipino and Chinese communities.

This year's BacoLaodiat Festival celebration will feature the first-ever grand evening lantern parade on Feb. 7 featuring dragons and lions and the 12 Chinese zodiac animals in illuminated floats. The parade will be participated in by the 34-member Tsinoy organizations and corporations.

The lantern parade led by the creative leadership of artist Charlie Co, will start at SM and end at the Capitol Lagoon where the giant zodiac lanterns will be displayed during the festival.

The “symphony of sparks and lights,” a city-wide synchronized lighting ceremony which will include installations and a city-wide fireworks show, will be held on Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. as Mayor Evelio Leonardia declares the opening of BacoLaodiat at the main stage at 6 th Street.

A Chinese Lantern Street Dancing competition, with adherence to the theme of “Strength and Unity” reflecting the merging of the Filipino and Chinese cultures, will also be held for the first time on Feb. 9 and is open to various private and public schools, barangays, cities and municipalities.

Lacson Street once again closed, as it was during MassKara Festival last year.

Among the activities set are the Chinese painting exhibit at SM City, city-wide dragon and lion dance, and the chopsticks alley along 6 th Street where open-air dining tents will be set up for the public to enjoy Chinese and Filipino food and where visitors and Chinese family associations will wear their costumes and color-coded attires for the big street party.

Colorful lanterns, kiosks, and rolling carts will be lined up along 6 th Street to transform the Capitol Shopping Center into a mini China town.

A tour of the temples to the three major Chinese temples in the city will be held on Feb. 8 and 9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., while a Chinese cultural show will be held at the SM Event Centre from 3-4 p.m. on Feb 8. This will be followed by a Tsinoy Olympics from 5-7 p.m. the same day at the Chopsticks Alley.

Other activities are a Chinese Cook Fest at Robinsons Place on Feb. 9, band shows and concerts, comedy and musical shows and mall performances of Chinese streetdance winners on Feb. 10.

The four-day activity will be capped by a farewell ceremony at 6 th Street to bid the Year of the Pig goodbye and welcome the Year of the Rat on Feb. 10. The program will include awarding of the plaques and prizes to the winners and entertainment numbers. This will be followed by a countdown to the grandest finale of fireworks display.

BacoLaodiat was coined from the name of the City of Bacolod and the Fookien word “laodiat” which means happy celebration.

The 2008 BacoLaodiat Festival is chaired by William Ong of 888 Mall, with Crispin Chua as vice chairman, Lily Go – treasurer, Mary Tien – secretary and Charlie Co, Hugo Corral, Teresa Gochangco, Leonito Lopue, and Secretary to the Mayor Goldwyn Nifras as directors.*CGS

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