BACOLOD City – The cash prizes for the MassKara Festival 2026 street dance and arena competition will remain at last year’s levels, according to festival director Rodney Mitz Ascalon.
Ascalon, president of the Bacolod Gugma Foundation Inc. (BGFI), said the champion in the barangay category will receive P1 million, while the winning school will take home P750,000.
In the barangay category, the first runner-up will receive P500,000 and the second runner-up P300,000.
For the school category, the first runner-up will receive P300,000, while the second runner-up will get P200,000.
The city government will also provide financial subsidies of P750,000 for each barangay contingent and P500,000 for each school contingent.
Eight barangays will compete in the barangay category: Barangays 6, 10, 13, Alangilan, Bata, Mandalagan, Handumanan, and Taculing.
Seven schools will participate in the school category: Montevista Elementary School, Sum-ag Elementary School, Vista Alegre-Granada Relocation Elementary School, Vista Alegre Elementary School, Mandalagan Elementary School, Handumanan Elementary School 1, and Education Training Center School II.
The street dance and arena competition is among the major highlights of MassKara Festival 2026, scheduled for October 17 and 18.
The arena competition will be held at the Reclamation Area, a new venue for the competition.
This year’s major festival sites are the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC), Bacolod Public Plaza and Lacson Tourism Strip.
Festival eyes business opportunities
Beyond culture and entertainment, the MassKara Festival 2026 is also being positioned as an economic opportunity for local entrepreneurs, food concessionaires, vendors and businesses.
Ascalon said hundreds of spaces would be made available to businesses and vendors across the three major festival sites.
“MassKara is not only about how many events we can put together. Our aspiration is to make it matter,” Ascalon said, emphasizing the festival’s potential to create opportunities for local entrepreneurs, vendors, businesses and communities.
The Plaza and BCGC will host dedicated food parks, with 17 concessionaires at the Plaza and seven at the BCGC. Additional vendor slots remain available in both areas.
The Lacson Tourism Strip, meanwhile, is expected to accommodate around 250 food and corporate kiosks along its approximately 2.3-kilometer stretch.
The area will feature six major stages, 11 sponsor activations and five sponsor villages, adding to the commercial and entertainment activities during the festival.
Small-scale entrepreneurs will also be accommodated through designated ambulant vending lanes.
The Araneta, Gatuslao and Panasiatic ambulant lanes are already fully booked, while the BCGC Annex has filled its available food-vendor slots.
The Rizal Ambulant Lane and other designated areas continue to provide spaces for souvenir sellers, food vendors and sellers of various merchandise.
Ascalon said the arrangement is intended to give small and micro businesses opportunities to showcase locally made products, crafts, food and other merchandise to thousands of visitors expected during the festival.
He said the success of MassKara should not be measured solely by attendance but also by the opportunities it creates for Bacolod’s communities and businesses.
“We want people to remember MassKara not only because of the spectacle, but because they felt that they had a place in it,” he said.
The festival organizers said the expanded commercial spaces and designated vending areas are part of efforts to make MassKara 2026 more inclusive by allowing businesses of different sizes to participate in and benefit from the city’s biggest annual festival./PN
