HISTORY OF MASSKARA FESTIVAL

The Festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. 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.[2] 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. Held in typical Oktoberfest and Mardi Gras fashion, 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.