THE recent fiesta of St. Augustine, the patron saint of Cagayan de Oro, last August 28 was really a success. There were admittedly mixed bittersweet emotions among the residents and visitors during the affair which extended up to a whole month due to quite a number of factors.

First of all, the economic crisis has dangerously seeped into our beloved Northern Mindanao and of course, that included Cagayan de Oro even though by far we are still the fastest growing economy outside of Metro Manila. This can be gleaned through the sorry low number of participants in the Kagay-an Dance Fest. That’s because it is hard for contingents to participate due to the expenses incurred in a troupe of 40 dance members.

Yet people still flock to the city during the fiesta. This can be deduced by the number of people who witness various events from the concert of Rivermaya to the 1^st Pyro Festival. Believe me, I cannot describe to you the tremendous volume of people witnessing the various events since Day One of the festival opened with Mayor Constantino Jaraula banging the agong to signal the start of the festivities via Kumbira 2009.