LA TRINIDAD’S STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL: COMMUNITY, CULTURE, AND CAKE

February 22, 2025 Provincial

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet

This capital town on Thursday (Feb.20) launched the Strawberry Festival. A Giant strawberry cake shape into “Kayabang” (a traditional native basket) using 280 kilos of fresh snow white and red strawberries will be the main feature of the festival. Valred Olsim, municipal tourism officer said “the red and white strawberries combined
showcase a unique strawberry variety, even though it’s very rare, with the goal of introducing the trend, even though it takes time to cultivate.”

Inspired by the theme “Semek La Trinidad” (Love La Trinidad), the concept expresses love for La Trinidad by showcasing iconic products like strawberries and other agricultural products in the kayabang. In the launching, it was learned that 500 pans of strawberry shortcakes, each measuring 12x18x12 inches will be cut into 16,000 slices at the municipal gymanasium on March 23.

For the giant Kayabang cake, the Strawberry Festival committee has partnered with one bakeshop. A challenge arose with the cake’s quality due to differing processes and machines, resulting in inconsistent colors during assembly.
Festival seeks to encourage community partnership and collaboration. It embodies community involvement, with the strawberry symbolizing the municipality: its seeds representing the people and its red color symbolizing the love within the municipality, welcoming locals and tourists alike.

The festival will run March 3-29, featuring 18 traditional programs and 6 community events, totaling 24 events.
While it is the 44th Strawberry Festival overall, it is only the 22nd since the event’s institutionalization in 2011. The festival has a 5.7 million budget for the 24 events.

Von Rick Angway/ UB-Intern