What not to expect in Sinulog 2021: Floats, higantes, stalls

The float of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) during the Sinulog grand parade on Sunday, January 20, 2019. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Sinulog 2021 going virtual will mean a lot of changes for Cebuanos, who have developed a fiesta tradition associated with the grand parade and the street dancing.

There will be no need for activities that will naturally draw crowds or will involve people being confined in tight spaces because the city government and the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) have decided to keep the audience at a minimum.

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People should no longer expect stalls along the Osmeña Boulevard and around the Cebu City Sports Center for the Sinulog 2021 because there is no market to sell to, anyway.

Instead, thore organizers will be launching a Sinulog online shop where establishments can sell their Sinulog-related products and customers can shop with convenience.

“We will redirect our commetrce online. Anyway, the activities will be aired in all s media outlets, radio, television, digital,” said Elmer “Jojo” Labella, the executive director of the SFI.

This means that those small-time businesses selling T-shirts, caps, shirts, and other items may no longer be able to sell in the streets as well during the festival period.

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Aside from the stalls, the organizers are anticipating the economic impact of the pandemic bringing in the concern on whether the float competition, one of the highly anticipated competitions in the Grand Parade, should be continued.

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Vice Mayor Michael Rama, the designated Sinulog organizer by Mayor Edgardo Labella, said that businesses might not be willing to spend much on floats especially after hitting a low point during the long lockdown.

The floats are also naturally crowd-drawing, with many establishments inviting celebrities as features for their floats in the past years. There will be no crowd to watch the floats or the celebrities during the virtual parade.

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Finally, the Higantes, a well-beloved feature of the grand parade, will also be taking a back seat on 2021 as the organizers opted to allow only the puppeteers to compete during the festival.

The SFI and the city government said although these contests and activities would be put on hold for 2021, it would only be for the best of the people with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) still spreading. /dbs