We celebrate Kadayawan this week and it surely is many things to many people. For all our homecoming friends, it means revisiting their Davao of so many memories and then hooking up with family and old pals once again which all make up for more stories at the table. To savor the bountiful fruits Davao is very well known for, and to visit the old haunts they have long missed while in faraway lands are definitely top on the list.
For the tourists, both local and foreign, joining in on this year’s celebration validates the city’s happy festive image, witnessing for themselves that we serve serious, no-nonsense hoopla.
The growing influx of visitors each year shows that, with hotels fully booked in advance in prep for this one week. Yup, in all, Kadayawan is celebration personified, and everyone is welcome.
What about the locals? Very happy to note that all my artist-friends have remained very active every Kadayawan week, year after year.
A radical concept of the Art Hunt was initiated by friend Vic Secuya last weekend at his spacious spread in Maa. There, a gathering of Mindanaoan visual artists exhibited their best works, while local musicians wooed the art collectors and visitors with indigenous inspired beats.
Meanwhile at the city bars below, there’s the usual bloom of original music by local bands, in time with that of the fruits in season. The yearly music and song competition sponsored by the city government concludes this weekend, with some close musician-friends acting as mentors for the young participants.
In terms of food, practically any establishment has its own offerings of festival treat, and if ever one needed a change especially come dinner time, check out the Roxas food market. Festival art pieces and masks are sold nearby for revelers.
It’s a week of fun overload and fest fever, and surely, everyone needs that break. Pass this up and rue for a year.
