It all started when Attorney Damaso Bangaoet Jr., Managing Director of John Hay Poro Point Development Center (JPDC) proposed that the City of Pines should launch a festival of its own.
To showcase the idea through various sectors of the community such as government, education, business, media, civic organizations, was JPDC’s strategy. Its goal is to gain support and in order to accumulate suggestions.
Attorney Bangaoet Jr. was placed into position and aided by the JPDC staff and volunteers under the tutelage of Eric Jonathan Picart, Ms. Rebecca Domogan, Ms. Gloria Vergara, Ms. Julie Cabato, Mr. Willie Magtibay, and Mr. Efren Chatto, all flower enthusiasts, established the advisory group. They formulated the identity of the festival that will reflect the history, traditions, and values of Baguio and the Cordillerans.
In October 1995, the festival used the entry of Trisha Tabangin, an alumnus of Baguio City National High School, from the annual Camp John Hay Art Contest. Ben Cabrera (also known as BenCab) chose a spray of sunflowers on the corner of Tabangin’s entry.
Professor Macario Fronda of Saint Louis University composed the festival hymn. The rhythm and movements of the Bendian dance was integrated, an Ibaloi dance for celebration. The dance’s circular movements express unity and harmony.
First Lady Amelita M. Ramos opened the first Baguio Flower Festival with the theme, “The Birth of a Tradition,” to emphasize the festival’s environmental, touristic, cultural and economic objectives with various activities to celebrate. They included the search for the Festival Queen, a Floral Parade with street dancing and floats, a Market Encounter which featured a garden show, and a number of competitions in street dancing, marching bands, as well as the Barangay Beautification Contest, and Landscaping and Flower Arrangement Contests.
The word Panagbenga comes from the Kankanaey is a term which means “a season of blossoming; a time for flowering,” that was suggested by Mr. Isikias Picpican, an archivist curator of Saint Louis University wherein The Second Panagbenga Festival had taken a journey on its own.
They also added a new activity, “Session Road in Bloom,” wherein the central business district of Baguio is closed to allow establishments to extend their lot and to let entertainment shows dominate the road. The Baguio Flower Festival and Fashion (BFFF) was held at the Mansion House. In line with the BFFF was the Flower Tee Golf Tournament.