MassKara Festival

The MassKara Festival (Hiligaynon: Pista sang MassKara, Filipino: Pista ng MassKara) is an annual festival with highlights held every 4th Sunday of October in Bacolod, Philippines. The festival sites include the Bacolod Public Plaza, the Lacson Tourism Strip and the Bacolod City Government Center.

MassKara Festival
Observed by	Bacolod, Philippines
Type	Cultural
Date	Fourth Sunday in October
2023 date	October 22  (2023-10-22)
2024 date	October 27  (2024-10-27)
2025 date	October 26  (2025-10-26)
2026 date	October 25  (2026-10-25)
First time	October 19, 1980

Etymology

The word "Masskara" is a portmanteau, coined by the late artist Ely Santiago from mass (a multitude of people), and the Spanish word cara (face), thus forming MassKara (a multitude of faces). The word is also a pun on maskara, Filipino for "mask" (itself from Spanish máscara), since it is a prominent feature of the festival and is always adorned with smiling faces, giving rise to Bacolod being called the "City of Smiles".

History

The Festival first began in 1980. The province relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop and the price of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup in the United States. This was the first MassKara Festival and a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel MV Don Juan carrying many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank in Tablas Strait off Mindoro while en route from Manila to Bacolod, which resulted in 18 lives lost, and 115 missing.

In the midst of these events, the local government then headed by the late Mayor Jose "Digoy" Montalvo appropriated a seed fund and enjoined the city's artistic community, civic and business groups to hold a "festival of smiles", to live up to the City's moniker as the "City of Smiles". They reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy atmosphere brought by the Don Juan Tragedy. The initial festival was held during the City's Charter Day celebration on October 19, 1980, and was steered by an organizing committee created by City Hall which was headed by the late councilor Romeo Geocadin and then city tourism officer Evelio Leonardia. It was a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City was going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph.

The festival has evolved into one of the major annual tourism attractions of the Philippines over the next four decades. The MassKara Festival served as a catalyst for far-reaching growth and development of the city's tourism, hospitality, culinary, crafts and souvenirs and services sectors. In later years, the Electric Masskara was added as another attraction of the Festival. For several nights leading to the highlight weekend, tribes of MassKara dancers garbed in colorful neon and LED lights on illuminated floats make their way up and down the Lacson Strip, a one kilometer stretch of merrymaking dotted with band stages, souvenir stands, exotic car displays and roadside bars and food set-ups put out by restaurant and hotels along the strip. It is said that beer consumption during the festival is so high that at one time during the first few stagings of the festival, it bled dry the Mandaue brewery of San Miguel Corporation on nearby Cebu island. The company eventually built its Bacolod brewery to serve the city and Negros Island.

The 2019 marks the 40th celebration of the festival, aptly called Ruby Masskara.

Masskara Festival Dancers in Bacolod City

Masskara Festival Bacolod

Events

Winners of the MassKara Queen pageant in 2005

The festival features a street dance competition where various groups of street dancers (with contingents representing different schools and barangays) parade through the streets before performing on a stage. Major activities include the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, carnivals, drum, bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized every year.

Masskara Festival Bacolod City

Masskara Festival 2024 Champion - Brgy Granada

Electric MassKara

Electric MassKara is a parade with music, lights and floats.

Street dancing

The street dance competition is divided into two categories; the school division, and the barangay division, the latter is considered as the highlight of the street dancing competition.

Grand champions

List of Barangay Category grand champions:

Year	Champion	1st Runner-up	2nd Runner-up	3rd Runner-up	4th Runner-up	5th Runner-up	6th Runner-up	7th Runner-up
2000	Pahanocoy
2001	Pahanocoy
2002	Pahanocoy
2003	Villamonte
2004	Villamonte
2005	Villamonte
2006	Alijis
2007	Alijis
2008	Mandalagan
2009	Taculing	Mandalagan	23	N/A	N/A
2010	Mandalagan	17	Alangilan	N/A	N/A
2011	Banago	17	Tangub	23	Alijis
2012	17	Cabug	6	32	Alijis
2013	16	Cabug	Alijis	22	15
2014	Granada	Villamonte	Alijis	N/A	N/A
2015	Granada	Tangub	Alangilan	N/A	N/A
2016	Granada	Tangub	Banago	Pahanocoy	Alangilan
2017	18	Punta Taytay	Mandalagan	Tangub	Alijis
2018	Tangub	18	Villamonte	Alijis	Mandalagan
2019	Estefania	Tangub	16	Banago	Bata
2020	Cancel Due To Covid
2021	Cancel Due To Covid
2022	Granada	Sum-ag	Estefania	35	Singcang	Tangub	31	Alangilan
2023	Granada	Tangub	Sum-ag
2024	Granada	Bata	12

See also

• Bacolod
• Negros Occidental
• List of Philippine-related topics
• MassKara Festival Queen
• Panaad sa Negros Festival
• Mardi Gras