The province of Antique will hold the Northern Antique River Festival 2019: 2nd National Extreme River Tubing Race on October 26-27, 2019.

The event, which will be held in the rivers of Bugang and Tibiao, is organized by Antique Eco-Tourism Association (AETA), Inc., an association of various resorts, hotels, restaurants, tourist establishments and community-based tourism organization.

“We conceptualized this event to promote Bugang River in the municipality of Pandan and Tibiao River in the municipality of Tibiao for sports and recreation purposes, and to further develop its ecosystem as an ecotourism hub in the Province of Antique,” said Flord Nicson Calawag, AETA president.

Broderick Train, Antique PDRRMO and Race Director of the 2nd National Extreme River Tubing Race 2019 added: ” We want to promote the rivers of Northern Antique as adventure-sports tourism sites, specifically for river tubing. This is also a good venue to expose our BDRRMOs and MDRRMOs to search and rescue techniques.”

The success of the 1st National River Tubing Race in Tibiao last February 2018 inspired the various resort to train the locals and turn them into river guides.

The Northern Antique River Festival will also campaign as a single-use-plastic-free event. No water bottles will be allowed. Every participant will be encouraged to bring refillable bottles and bags, and water refilling stations with washable and reusable cups will be placed in designated areas.

“We want to market the Province of Antique as an eco-friendly tourist destination,” said Kimberly Eng, owner of Alpas Restaurant and AETA member.

Aside from the tubing race, the Antique Provincial Tourism Office will launch #Namit: A Karay-a Kulinarya Cooking Challenge, a competition of cooks and chef of the various resort, restaurant and catering in Antique. The main ingredients for the main dish must be sourced from the river and will promote the use of native chicken and native pork.

“We want to position Antique as the capital of native pig lechon. Because of our highlands, it is easy for us to raise native pigs and advocate for a healthy meat to our locals and tourists,” said Rhodora Cadiao, Governor of Antique.PR/IMT