LOOK: CDO streets come alive with friendship festival
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The streets of downtown Cagayan de Oro exploded in colors and merriment as the month-long Higalaay or Friendship Festival came to a close.
Some 110 contingents and nine floats participated in the traditional civic and military parade on Saturday that snaked through the city’s main thoroughfares.
It was the first in-person festivities after a two-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Rolando Uy and Vice Mayor Jocelyn Rodriguez led the parade, along with city councilors and employees of the local government, national government agencies, uniformed personnel, civic organizations, fraternities and sororities, and the academe.
Miss Intercontinental 2021 Princess Faye Obeñita featured in a float that calls attention to the need for urgent climate action.
Article continues after this advertisementA day earlier, revelers were treated to sights and sounds of merrymaking as contingents vie for prizes in the Street Carnival competition.
Article continues after this advertisementCagayan de Oro, Northern Mindanao’s regional seat, bills itself as the “City of Golden Friendship.”
The Higalaay Festival culminates on Sunday, the feast of St. Augustine, the city’s patron.