The strawberry festival

The Strawberry festival, usually celebrated from the late February to March is one of the main tourist attractor of La Trinidad. Showcasing its strawberries and strawberry products, the town celebrates a long time feast with parades, trade-fairs, sport leagues, contests and many other fun activities, but of course, not missing is the Grand Cañao.

Late back 1981 was the first ever strawberry festival which took the place of the Town Fiesta honoring its Patronal Saint, Saint Joseph. At first, Benguet used to focused on growing vegetables but decided then to concentrate more on strawberries and cut flowers because the competition for vegetables would be soon tougher.

In 2001, the province of Benguet celebrated its foundation day in which it showcased a carrot-shaped carrot cake to highlight the province’s festivity. This was well, one of the inspiration of the now Guinness World Records holder, La Trinidad, for creating the largest strawberry-shaped strawberry cake. The planning was then led by ex-Mayor Nestor Fongwan for the creation of a record-breaking strawberry cake for the 2002 fiesta. Along with him is the committee for the festival who brainstormed ideas for the upcoming surprise.

And then strawberry festival 2002 came with a difference. The town marked the date and presented a 7ft long, 6 ft wide and 5 ft high Giant strawberry cake. With the great success came a little disappointment that the cake was not able to get in the Guinness but, this became more of a challenge.

The following year, 2003, Mayor Fongwan was inspired by the first Giant strawberry cake’s success and decided next to bake the cake “twin-shaped”. With these, more efforts were needed and so more volunteers came. Then after the 48-hours of continuous baking, the twin-shaped strawberry cake was done. The cake was expected to enter the Guinness but unfortunately, the Guinness said that they must have an actual look on the cake but the small town of La Trinidad can not afford the accommodation of those.

With the third try of La Trinidad, more sponsors came in, Mayor Fongwan was a bit more confident and decided to bake a bigger one. Because of these, the Lednicky hall (where the giant cake would be set up) was reconstructed with little ceiling adjustments.

The Giant cake again turned to success! An 8.6 ft wide and 12 ft tall of a 9,622.29 kg Giant strawberry cake was displayed in the municipal hall of La Trinidad on March 20, 2004. At last, the town was recognized in the Guinness not by actual measuring of the judges but via internet. The actual measurement and slice counting were witnessed by non-biased and trustworthy entities as Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Baguio-Benguet Chapter and Philippine Institute of Accountants.

And so, the town of La Trinidad is still celebrating its Strawberry feast and craving for more achievements and improvements.

Strawberry cakes

The 2004 Strawberry cake recipe:

537.5 kgs. Magnolia Gold Butter

752.5 kgs. White Sugar

967.5 kgs. Strawberry preserve

645 kgs. Eggs

1,655 kgs. Purefoods

Bacon All-Purpose Flour

3,583 kgs. Pure baked Best

Premium baking powder

16.55 kgs. Iodized salt

516 kgs. Magnolia Fresh Milk

2.15 kgs. Strawberry extract

2,150 kgs. Magnolia

Whip n’ Top Cream (icing)

633.24 kgs.

fresh Strawberries

211.08 kgs. Cold

Magnolia Fresh Milk (icing)

0.47 kgs. Food Coloring