I have been to Digos City a few times before to visit a family friend but I have never witnessed any of the activities they organized. Luckily, we were invited as guests by our family friend, Sandy Rabadon, one of the main organizers of this event along with his supportive staff, to witness the celebration of the Hikay Festival.

The Hikay Festival  is a festival that will proudly show the indigenous culinary dishes and talents. The main objective is to bring out the rich culinary  heritage and different cooking traditions from different parts of the counrty.   Thus, a tourist attraction such as this will make a big impact that would keep visitors from afar keep coming back.

One of the many highlights they had was to come up with The Food Photography Workshop to be conducted by the renowned photographers, Ms. Jojie Alcantara and her partner, Rhonson Ng, held at Gaisano Mall of Digos.  This is sponsored by The Association of South Davao Hotels, Accommodations, Restaurants, and Tourism Stakeholders (ASDHARTS),a non-stock, non-partisan organization which is in partnership with Fujifilm for this workshop.

The Food Photography Workshop was mostly participated by the young people who brought their good cameras and the rest were professional adults who are into photography.  I was happy to see the familiar faces of those students who have been actively  participating in some of the workshops conducted by Jojie and Rhonson in the past.  They were presently there to join and learn more from these two respectable people.

I am grateful to have an opportunity to assist and learn at the same time.  The speakers, Jojie and Rhonson lectured about the different techniques of doing Food Photography.  They had a special activity as they were divided into different groups to take pictures of the food presentation.  These young students are really enthusiastic and they get their inspiration from Ms. Jojie and Rhonson.

It was around 1:30 in the afternoon when raffle prizes were given to participants such as t-shirts by Fujifilm and Mabuhay Magazines which featured the best shots of the two speakers as they travel around the country.  One of the fun part during the workshop was taking the pictures of each participant using the Instax Camera by Fujifilm.  Ms. Jojie took their pictures one by one and afterwhich the speakers would gladly sign each developed ones for remembrance.

For our finale, we had a group picture outside to include the view of the beautiful city of Digos from above.  It was a memorable day to spend with these group of people who are into this profession and I could see by the look on their faces that they truly had a great time.

The Hikay Festival is being celebrated from February 10,11 and 12, 2017. The highlights of the festival includes food competitions, exhibits, showcasing indigenous talents and many, many more.  We will be expecting more surprising events this year and for years to come because this is just the beginning  of how this City will attract more tourists to visit.

Once again, we would like to thank the important people behind this, Mr. Sandy Rabadon and Mr. Teodorico Dofiles II, ASDHARTS Chartered President along with the other supportive organizers who made this possible.