Early Christmas spirit permeates at the Garden City Shopping Centre when the Manitoba Filipino Street Festival opens its 1st Annual Parol Making Contest, with 18 entries vying for three major and consolation prizes.
At the Garden City Shopping Centre Court, 18 contestants have been relentlessly squeezing their creative juices to create the best Christmas Lantern or “Parol”. The criteria include: originality 25%, craftmanship 50%(creativity, resourcefulness and effort) and the total impact 25%. The judges are composed of Rod E. Cantiveros, MaCCFA president, co-publisher and playwright, chariperson; Chester Pangan, CKJS broadcaster; Maggie Chan-Urbano, QPAM president; Evita Lammawin, adviser, BIBAK; and Orlando Sanchez, MFSF board member.
This year’s first annual “Parol Contest” winners include, Leoni Conchada, 1st prize; Aura Guevarra, 2nd prize; and Sherry Antazo de Guzman, third prize. Cash prizes ($300, $200, and $150) were awarded and $20 as consolation prizes for those who joined the parol contest. Additional prize was donated by Robinsons Land Development. The three winning entries have become the properties of MFSF.
Entertainment numbers added to the festive atmosphere during the contest and hundreds of our kababayans and Canadian friends witnessed the contest.
As Aida Champagne, chairperson of MFSF says: “The Manitoba Filipino Street Festival wants this unique tradition of Parol making to be carried on by our younger generations. It is a part of our cultural heritage. When we see a Parol lighted in the windors of our homes during the Canadian winter, the Parol shines like a beacon bringing back fond memories of our Filipino Christmas tradtions that many of us follow back home and here in Canada.”
The Manitoba Filipino Street Festival promises for a much better “Parol Contest” in 2015, so kababayan, get ready to be challenged, in the Spirit of Christmas.
Photos by Star Roxas and Rod Cantiveros | Filipino Journal
