‘Ani Festival’ wins in 2016 ‘Tan-ok ni Ilocano’

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — A fest dramatizing the harvest of palay bagged the first place in the 2016 “Tanok ni Ilocano” Festival of Festivals held at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Memorial Stadium in Laoag City last weekend.

The “Ani Festival” of Dingras, Ilocos Norte bested all the attractive festival– entries from Ilocos Norte’s 21 towns and two cities after the Ani performers showcased their palay harvesting tradition.

Dingras town, which is the rice granary of Ilocos Norte with more or less 9,367 hectares planted with rice annually, is the most productive and most fertile land for rice production with an average yield of farmers at 7.38 tons per hectare.

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos led thousands of tourists, visitors and residents in watching the grand showdown of different festivals in the province.

“It is time that we think back of our history, our leadership, and our present important developments among the youth and the future, to decide finally and forge: Pasingkedan ti kinatan-ok ni Ilocano!” The last phrase roughly translates to ‘making Ilocos Norte great again,’” said Marcos.

Theater director Alexander Cortez, who chaired the nine-member panel of judges, commented that “the stories are very relevant. They chose environment, leaders, agriculture, presentation of cultural heritage, so it’s not limited to one topic… You can definitely learn a lot from it.”