GENERAL TRIAS CITY, Cavite: This historic town will once again showcase their famous Valenciana Festival to value history, cultural heritage, and cuisine on December 12-13.

The festival coincides with the celebration of the city’s 8th cityhood anniversary under Mayor Luis “JonJon” Ferrer 4th and Vice Mayor Jonas Labuguen.

A thanksgiving mass at the historic St. Francis of Assisi parish in Bagumbayan will also be held at 8:30 a.m. on December 12 to be officiated by Rev. Fr. Oliver Genuino.

In its return, the festival will feature the street dancing competition and field performance that will be participated by 11 local schools on December 12 at the City Plaza.

The wreath laying at the monument of General Mariano Trias to commemorate the 275th Founding Anniversary of the locality and the

Valenciana cooking competition will take place at 2 p.m. at Sunny Brooke Village in Barangay San Francisco where 33 villages will participate.

Each barangay will showcase their kind of menu that’s known in the city since it was introduced a hundred years ago.

Around 50,000 individuals attended the General Trias Music Festival on Saturday, December 9 held at the City Sports Park in Barangay Santiago featuring Mayonnaise, Silent Sanctuary, Hale and Nobita bands.

There will be a Christmas caroling competition on December 14 at Plaza Rizal in town proper.

The festival was temporarily postponed for three years due to Covid-19 pandemic.

In its last edition in 2019, Barangay Sta. Clara reclaimed its Best Valenciana title in the dish cooking contest, beating 2018 champion

Barangay Buenavista 3 (formerly Camaren) and 31 other towns.

Barangay Sta. Clara village chief Wally Satsatin received the P30,000 cash prize and the elegant glass plum. The said village was the champion in 2016 and 2017.

Valenciana is a famous dish in the locality inherited from the Spaniards. According to old folk here, the dish is like paella without seafood, and instead made with chicken, pork loin, potatoes, carrots and hotdogs.

Barangay Prinza, meanwhile, won the back-to-back crown in the giant lantern competition with its lantern made of recycled materials.

The barangay took home P25,000. Barangay Sta. Clara won 2nd place, while previous 1st runner-up Tapia Village took home the 3rd place, bagging P15,000 and P10,000, respectively, in 2019.