A Short History of the Strawberry Festival

The annual town fiesta of La Trinidad is in commemoration of St. Joseph, The Carpenter. As early as 1955, La Trinidad was already celebrating its Patronal Town Fiesta.

The first Strawberry Festival started in the 1980’s during the term of Honorable Hilarion Abe L. Pawid. He envisioned taking advantage of the town fiesta to promote strawberry production among the farmers of La Trinidad. He encouraged the people of La Trinidad to go on specialized farming, especially on strawberry and cutflower production, which had more value compared to the vegetables. Because of this, we stood out from other municipalities. Soon enough, La Trinidad gained the title of being the “Strawberry Capital of the Philippines”, after losing its title “Salad bowl of the Philippines” to the Province of Benguet.

Thus, the first Strawberry Festival was celebrated in the year 1981 and was followed in the next two years. The 1983 Strawberry Festival was marked by the groundbreaking for the construction of the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post which later made La Trinidad, the vegetable marketing center for the Province of Benguet.

During the administration of Hon. Edna C. Tabanda, our first lady mayor, the name of the town fiesta was transformed into “La Trinidad: Panaspulan” which meant a cultural gathering. It aimed to boast the Municipality’s tourism industry, to attract local and foreign tourists. Part of the festival activities included the promotion of the Municipality’s main agricultural products through the Strawberry and Cutflower Festivals. It was in the middle of the 1900’s that La Trinidad gained the moniker, “Rose Capital of the Philippines”.

It was in 1999 that the Strawberry Festival was revitalized by our former mayor Honorable Nestor B. Fongwan. Mayor Fongwan invigorated the Strawberry Industry by importing new varieties of strawberries, replacing the old and rundown strawberry varieties. The end view of which, was to uplift the livelihood of its citizenry and to make a name for La Trinidad in the world map.

In the 2002 Strawberry Festival, the Municipality baked the First Giant Strawberry Cake. A Twin Giant Strawberry Cake was prepared the following year. In 2004, the people of La Trinidad baked another Giant Strawberry Cake which was then declared by the Guinness World of Records as the Worlds Biggest Strawberry Short Cake ever baked. It measured 3.73 meters long, 2.63 meters wide, and 2.55 meters high. This highlighted the name if the Municipality not only in the map of the Philippines but also in the map of the world.

Without a doubt, the municipality of La Trinidad has arrived. With the entry of the Municipality in the world record, it has indeed proven, that undeniably, it is the “Strawberry Fields of the Philippines” not only in the country but throughout the world. By this reputation of the Municipality, it is superfluous to enumerate the benefits brought about by the Strawberry Festival to the Municipality and its constituents.

The Strawberry Festival in the year 2007 was marked by another breakthrough for the vegetable industry. The inauguration of the Vegetable Processing, Packaging and Cold Storage Plant at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post, by no other than Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. With the help of the Benguet farmers, our vegetables shall be produced in top quality conditions, transported to the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post where the vegetables will go through strict quality control measures before it is packed and shipped to high-end buyers, institutional buyers and eventually into the world market. Thus the 2007 theme, “La Trinidad on the World Map towards Globalization”.