SarBay Fest is ready

By BEVERLY C. PAOYON

 

GUMASA, Sarangani (May 22, 2013) – It’s all systems go this Friday and Saturday (May 24 - 25) for Sarangani Bay Festival 2013 – the biggest beach party in Mindanao.

 

This time, the festival area is expanded into a bigger, 5.9-hectare venue for the convenience of guests largely coming from Davao City, General Santos City and Sarangani’s towns.

 

The venue in Gumasa, Glan is between White Haven and Rosal beach resorts and a walking distance too from Coco Beach resort. For those who will bring tents, all three resorts have a designated tent city with a fee of P100 per tent area. Pitching tents at the festival area is prohibited.

 

Around 500 vehicle passes will be provided for the three parking spaces allotted both for vehicles and motorcycles. Barangay tanods will guard parked vehicles at fees of P20 each for cars and P10 for motorcycles.

 

Guests are advised to use the festival’s main gate for free entrance because entrance fees are collected at resort gates.

 

Smart and its prepaid brand Talk & Text are the co-presentors of SarBay Fest 2013. A part of their engagement is the provision of free wifi service during the festival with the deployment of Smarts’s Meow or multi equipment on wheels.    

 

Lots of improvements have been considered this year, according to Sarangani Tourism and Investment Promotions Center (STIPC), like the clear partitioning of the “prime area, novelty and food lanes and the drinking area” -- all facing the stage or party zone.

 

Performing bands and DJs for the sun-down to sun-up concerts and parties are all set too. STIPC said this time parties will end at five in the morning.

 

Organizers said food stalls that can serve a crowd of about 100,000 are segregated into a “prime area” which is composed of fast food restaurants serving steaks, grills, and others while for those with smaller budgets may dine along the “food lane” across the “novelty” lane selling souvenir items.

 

Investment officer Milbie Guiang-Daguro said there are around “70 sellers and exhibitors to meet (our) guests’ needs in terms of food, beverage, health and wellness, and other facilities.”

 

Aside from the fun and excitement, Daguro said the SarBay Fest also “gives everyone an opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the blessings of Sarangani Bay - beautiful scenery, powdery sand, pristine waters, colorful marine resources.”

 

In its essence, STIPC said SarBay Fest is more than just the fun concept but pushes for its environmental campaign to preserve the bay. At the venue, mangrove seedlings will be offered at P20 each where the buyer’s name will be written in its tag and in the tarpaulin.

 

Seedlings will later be planted during the culmination of the province’s Ocean Month celebration next week with Sarangani’s non-government organization partners.  

 

After SarBay Fest, Saguittarius Mines, Inc. will lead some 300 environmentalists to do a coastal clean-up in the venue. (Beverly C. Paoyon/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)