The 75th Jubilee Anniversary of Quezon City
Last October 10, the municipality of Quezon City
invited me as one of the bloggers to attend and write about their 75th Jubilee
Anniversary celebration. As part of the program, I need to visit the different
places of Quezon City for me to explore and discover the rich culture of the
City.
As scheduled, I met them around 12 o’clock in a
sunny afternoon at the Quezon City Hall. As we wait for the other bloggers to
come, the event committee decided to divide us into a three groups with each
different itinerary program. I belong to the group that will be going to La
Mesa Ecopark, Erehwon Centre for the Arts and Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife
Center.
At exactly 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the van
departed from the Quezon City Hall and went into our first destination. It was
a nice 20-minute ride coming from Quezon City Hall to La Mesa Ecopark including
the traffic. Immediately as we landed at the place, the welcoming fresh air of
the Ecopark greeted us. All groups have a tour guide, in our team his name is
Mr. Donito, which will help us in knowing more about the place.
It was my first time to go inside La Mesa Ecopark
and I am very surprised on how well they keep up the park in its good shape even
though it was self-sufficient when it comes to providing its daily maintenance
needs.
At the time, we visit the Ecopark there are many
people inside of it, the people are very lively as some do their company team
building in that location, some use the location to snap and shoot pictures for
a pre-nuptial wedding and some just hang around to relax.
As we continue to explore the place, it was clear
that the park does not only provide fresh air to the people, but they also have
recreational activity for the visitors to try out like zipline, bungee jumping,
and a shooting range. They also have animals that are roaming around in the place,
like horse, chicken, and a squirrel. After an hour, we finally arrive into the
last part of the ecopark, which is an amphitheatre.
The tour in La Mesa Ecopark exhausted me a lot, as it
requires a lot of walking to roam around the place. Additional helpful
information when you are planning to visit the location: Do not forget to bring
extra clothes and water, as you will perspire a lot on the course of your tour.
We arrived in our next
destination almost quarter to the four. Erehwon Centre is located at Old
Balara, Quezon City. They said that the area was a former factory place of the
infamous Loafman’s bread back in the 80’s. We have met with Mr. Benitez the
owner of place as an introductory to begin our tour in Erehwon. According to
Mr. Benitez, the primary purpose of the establishment is to serve, as the art
hub location in Quezon City that made available for the all artists here in the
Philippines. The place has a welcoming kind of atmosphere and it even more
magnified by their being hospitable to us.
Inside the lobby, I
saw a large painting of a Datu riding a boat together with various Filipino
artifacts inside of it. They said that it was a collaboration work of various
Filipino artists as a way to help to promote our beloved country thru painting.
After a little introduction by the host, we then go ahead in our next place.
Erehwon Café is great locations to hang out if you want to see some of our
talented Filipino artists perform. After we finish touring the first floor
area, we then go ahead into the second floor.
On the second floor of
the building, I saw their dance studio and the corporate office of Erehwon.
Erehwon is not limited to support one kind of Arts but it also supports all
kinds of medium to further expand & create more Filipino Arts that includes
dancing, music, and all kinds of visual arts.
As we transition from
second floor to the third floor, I saw this staircase beautifully painted by
this black and white paint that mimics a deep sleep scenario of a normal person.
According to them, one of their artists decided to use the staircase as
his canvass to create his next artwork and on the next day “viola”, it was
already created.
The third floor of the
building has a rehearsal room for an orchestra rehearsal. They said that the
famous artist Sir David Pomeranz once visit Erehwon to do his orchestra
rehearsal in that place. The room is equipped with various orchestra
instruments and the facility is a very good venue to conduct a practice for a
musical performance. The third floor also has a room for the artists to rest.
Finally, we reach the
top floor of the building where we saw a commemoration display of the late Mr.
Nick Joaquin one of our national artists. In the next room, we saw the place
where they create a head sculpture of some of the prominent people in the
Philippines; some of the people who I recognize are Mayor Herbert Bautista, Mr.
Henry Sy and the late Sir Jesse Robredo.
We finished the tour
at exactly 5 o’clock and headed back to the City Hall. The Quezon City was very
exciting to explore and it was very enjoyable meeting other bloggers, which
have the same interest in knowing more about the City of Quezon.
For more information about the place :
La Mesa EcoparkAddress: La Mesa Dam Compound | Greater Lagro,Quezon City, Luzon 1118, PhilippinesPhone Number: +63 2 430-5207
Erehwon Center for the ArtsArt Center
Address: #1 Don Francisco St., Villa Beatriz,
Old Balara, Quezon City, 1119 Metro ManilaPhone:(02) 384 3507
