Baguio City Country Fair 2022

One of the beauties of the Sunday pedestrian mall along Session Road is that there are many to discover and tell a story about. So following my street art discovery, I turned back to the road to see an arc declaring Baguio Country Fair. Ah, so 02 October 2022 is not just another pedestrian mall Sunday along Session Road. There is a special occassion on this day.

To the left of the arc were low hay stack and two scarecrows. Scarecrow? I can't relate it to the stalls behind but I understand the organizers somehow did their best to make a country setting.

It was before eightt in the morning and many stalls were still empty. I wondered why the sellers seem not excited to display their merchandises. When I was a sidewalk vendor, I did my best to be ready for business as early as seven. In spite of the empty stalls, men in uniform were already scattered to keep peace and order. They were not this many during ordinary Sundays.

This directional post has mostly known streets of Baguio City. I cannot help smiling when I tried to find the streets in my head. The arrows were pointing to where they are! Well except for Kennon Road which the arrow was a bit misaligned. It is not just for a show but somehow for real. But there is more story to that when I came across the said post the second time I got up the road. Maybe I'll reserve that for another post...

Moving on up the street, I came upon a stall which the seller was preparing to display plants.

I got closer to the stall to check on the plants and only one caught my attention. The amazing bright red Macarena variety of begonia. Oh, how I love it! But it only reminds me of my begonias that "melted".

Sometime last year, I bought four different varieties of begonias. Macarena variety was one of them and was actually my favorite because of its striking color and variegation formation. Unfortunately, all of them just faded. The leaves started to wither and the plants eventually died. When I told about it to a few plant lovers, they said I might have over-watered them. That scared me to not buy again until I feel like I know how to take care of them. So no matter how I so much loved this beautiful plant in front of me, I did not buy it.

In front of the next stall, I noticed plants on spherical pots. They looked really cool so I got close to inspect them.

"They are so cute! How is this?" I asked the seller.

"Just like that. Soil inside mosses." That is very environment-friendly without the need to spend buying plastic pots! I immediately thought of doing it with my plants and wondered where to get moss.

"And then, what are these?" I asked about what binds the ball intact. Without waiting for answer, I checked for myself. It was just sewing thread rolled over the ball like a net. It will not last long, I thought. I should find nylon threads instead.

Going up to the intersection with Gov. Pack Road, I crossed Session Road then went downward to find a stage being prepared. I heard a woman telling children to pick their spot already for the dog show while there are still few expectators. Dog show during a country fair? We should be seeing cowboys and horses!

^{Dog owners standing (or sitting) by for the show}

Further down the road I crossed again to where the street arts are. That was when I saw a little commotion. I looked up and saw cowboys coming, galant on their horses. That's more and better of a country fair!

People started approaching the cowboys and horses for photoshoot while I continued down the road.

I came to the intersection with Calderon Street and found artists occupying the road. They had their canvasses and painting materials. They were painting impromptu. Now, that is an actual street art which will be good for another story...

Stay tuned, beautiful people!