Read this First: KADAYAWAN DAVAO: Indak Indak sa Kadalanan (A Photo Essay)
After Saturday’s street dancing competition, you should watch the next day’s float parade showcasing Davao’s fruits, flowers, and other produce. The parade starts as early as 7am on Sunday and is the culmination of the Kadayawan festival. It’s a highly-anticipated event, not only because of the floats, but also because of the showbiz personalities who join in the procession.
Here’s part two of my photo essay on my first Kadayawan experience:
The BEST of DAVAO Series:
- KADAYAWAN DAVAO: Indak Indak sa Kadalanan (A Photo Essay)
- KADAYAWAN FLOAT PARADE: A Grand Spectacle of Davao’s Fruits, Flowers, and Stars? (A Photo Essay)
FLOAT PARADE PREPARATION
The floats are assembled the night before the parade to make sure that the flowers, orchids, and other organic materials look fresh and vibrant.
Arlene L. Puentespina is the most sought-after floral artist from Puentespina Orchids & Tropical Plants. She is known for creating the most beautiful floral floats in Kadayawan.
The floats should be composed of 80% flowers and orchids, and 20% organic materials like white beans, red beans, and fruit husks.
The Abreeza float highlights the fun and sense of play that awaits you in their mall.
Each life-size doll is carefully fitted with clothes made from flowers and orchids.
It’s wonderful to see the artistry in the floats up close. You appreciate every flower that was used to create beautiful brand logos like this one from Coca-Cola.
Here’s an enlarged Coke bottle made from white, red, and brown beans.
A closer look at the details of the bottle.
Here’s a view of the “cockpit” of the float where the driver needs to navigate the roads by looking through the tiny window.
They used achuete husks and gerbera flowers to cover the entire van.
The Coke float shows the Philippine Eagle in all its floral-covered glory.
KADAYAWAN FLOAT PARADE
Here are the highlights of the float parade during the 2013 Kadayawan:
To see the floats, especially the ones that showcase not only the flowers but also the colorful costumes and tribal culture, is a beautiful experience.
Here’s the Dole float covered in pineapples and pineapple skins, mashed up with the Philippine Eagle’s head and what looks like a crocodile’s tail.
Though it was fun to see the drum, lyre, and bugle band of the young ones, most of the performances were amateurish. I wish they could have had professional groups join the parade.
The SM Lanang float was a bit disappointing compared to the float of SM Baguio during Panagbenga. It featured a high-end shopping theme, with matching snooty models.
Here’s the finished Abreeza float designed by Arlene Puentespina.
We know how hard it was to create this. The attention to detail, using only the freshest flowers and orchids, just put a smile on people’s faces is really something to appreciate.
It’s always amazing to see kids perform under the heat of the morning sun.
The GMA 7 float was not designed well. It was just saved by the beauty of Solenn Heussaff and Lovi Poe.
The S&R float featured a big shopping cart, which was a bit too commercial.
Drum bands on floats are always a hit during parades. 🙂
The beautiful young ladies of Davao add excitement to the parade.
The Coca-Cola float was impressive despite its commercial nature, with matching star power from Enchong Dee.
The ABS-CBN float marked the end of the parade, with the crowd going crazy over McSpicy girl Jessy Mendiola. 🙂
CONCLUSION
Overall, I found Davao’s floral parade to be more organized than that of Baguio’s, and I love that they use real fresh flowers and orchids. Although for me, the Panagbenga Float Parade is still better in terms of grandeur of the floats.
The Kadayawan float parade could have benefitted from bigger and less billboard-type floats and more participants. There was less participation this year probably because of the security situation.
Davao should also invite drum, lyre, and bugle bands from the big universities or from professional performing groups to join future parades. I felt that the kids were exploited, having made to perform under the heat of the sun and regardless of all the security concerns.
But in spite of all that, I still had an awesome time.
Congratulations to Davao for a successful KADAYAWAN Festival 2013!
The BEST of DAVAO Series:
- KADAYAWAN DAVAO: Indak Indak sa Kadalanan (A Photo Essay)
- KADAYAWAN FLOAT PARADE: A Grand Spectacle of Davao’s Fruits, Flowers, and Stars? (A Photo Essay)
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
P.S. Congratulations to Arlene Puentespina for the beautiful floats in Kadayawan!
PUENTESPINA ORCHIDS & TROPICAL PLANTS
Bolcan Street, Agdao, Davao City, Philippines
Telephone: +63 82 226-4446 / +63 82 221-8248
Mobile: +63 917 700-9005
Email: alp@gmail.com
Website: www.Orchid.ph