La-Trinidad, Benguet – The municipality of La-Trinidad, Benguet organized a search for the biggest and sweetest strawberries and a flower arrangement competition on March 9, 2018, at the municipal park.
The sweetest and the biggest strawberry competition was held from 9 am to 12 noon where it was actively participated in by farmers from different barangays, to showcase their impressive produce.
The competition for the biggest strawberries had 9 participants and each were required to pick the 10 biggest strawberries to be weighed. After long deliberation by the judges, they first announced the winners for the biggest strawberries, third place went to Mr. Ruston Eulogio- 350g of strawberries, second place is Ms. Juna Dicang – 335g and the person with the biggest strawberries weighing 365g is Mr. Efren Akelio.
With the seventeen participants for the sweetest strawberry competition, the evaluators used a tool to accurately and fairly judge the sweetness of each strawberry. The top 3 spots went to Mr. Mencio Lab-isa with a 9.46 level of sweetness for third place, second place went to Mr. Johnny Sagibal- 9.70 and Mr. Danny Butilen got 9.76 making him the man with the sweetest strawberries.
Winners of the competition were asked about the secret to having the biggest and sweetest strawberries and according to them, the only secret is diligently watering the plants every single day with love and care.
Around 2 in the afternoon, on the same day, a flower arrangement competition was organized and participated by 16 contestants composed of students and professionals.
All of the contestants were required to use strawberries as their centerpiece to uphold the theme “La-Trinidad’s Strawberries Forever”.
Ms. Christalyne M. Balicao, Chairman of the Board of Judges said that there were more participants compared to last year and many coming from different barangays.
Most of the contestants were men and it may be a little unusual but according to Balicao, she appreciates men joining such events because it’s a privilege for them so they can personally make their own bouquet of flowers and give them to their loved ones instead of paying someone to arrange it for them.
Applying their techniques and creativity, 4 flower arranger stood out and caught the attention of the judges. The winners were: fourth place, Mr. Ryan Camero a representative of Ambiong, third place goes to Mr. Hepper Nabus of Pico, 2nd place is Mr. Kevin Clemente representative of Ambiong and the rose among the thorns become the winner, coming from Shian, Ms. Ruchelle Lictag.
According to Lictag, it was her first time to join so she was happy when they announced her the winner of the said competition. Her concept is to showcase the variety of flowers in La-Trinidad also the strawberries which are the highlight of the competition. She thinks that her edge among the participants is that she uses freshly picked flowers that come into their garden and sunflowers.
The officials from the municipality say that all of the participants are winners as they showcase their products and talents and all of them were given cash prizes. They asked them to continue participating in this kind of events to promote strawberry as their main industry.**
Ralph Kipol Sad-en, UB Intern
