The mother of all summer festivals is how Pangasinan describes Pistay Dayat, a traditional summertime festival held along the vast stretch Lingayen Gulf, one of the country’s biggest bodies of water.
Dating back to decades ago before street dancing became a fad, this summertime event celebrates the bounty of the sea in the Gulf, which teems in marine life and colonial history.
Back then, local folks from all over the coastal towns would troop to the nearest beach with their families and friends for spontaneous merry making, picnics, and community activities in a festive atmosphere.
The excursions usually peak on May 1, being a national day, where the beaches get an influx of visitors from the urban areas.
Over the years, more activities were added to Pistay Dayat, making it a more interesting tourism event for visitors.
Today, the highlight of the celebration is the Banca Parada fluvial parade at the Agno River, which featured decorated boats of municipalities, government offices and establishments in Pangasinan.
According to Governor Amado Espino III, the river parade showcases Agno as one of country’s cleanest and most navigable river systems.
The river underwent rehabilitation during the previous provincial administration to be a showpiece of environmental sustainability.
He added Pistay Dayat also stresses the need to protect natural resources, marine, coastal, river and mountain ecosystems for the next generation.
A major producer of freshwater fish, the river was cleared of fish pens and other obstructions to allow free flow of water. Millions of fresh water fingerlings were released to allow spawning and bring back its once abundant aquatic life.
The 206-km Agno, which originates in the Cordillera Mountain ranges, is the country’s largest river in terms of water discharge, draining around 6.6 cubic kilometers of fresh water into the Lingayen Gulf.
Spicing up the festivities were fringe events such as paramotor, paragliding, and sky diving exhibitions, sandcastle building, shootfests, musical and entertainment shows, beach volleyball, air soft competitions, tourism and trade expo, art exhibits, various sporting events, and the Limgas na Pangasinan beauty pageant which selected the ambassadresses of tourism and goodwill of the province.
Rocking the night away were the Kapuso Night featuring stars from the Kapuso Artist Center and the San Miguel National Band Concert which pitted the country’s best up-and-coming rock bands.
