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The 30th MassKara Festival celebration enters its third and final week with some of the exciting highlights during the weekend building for the final day on Monday next week when Bacolod City celebrates its 71st Charter Anniversary, a press release from organizers said.

Scheduled this week are the much-awaited street-dancing competitions starting with the schools category on Thursday, with 11 participating groups who will perform from Libertad-Araneta streets to the Bacolod public plaza.

The first-ever Electric MassKara Ledge Dancing Competition will follow on Friday at the Lacson Tourism Strip with seven groups joining, the barangay category on Saturday with 23 participating groups and the open category on Sunday.

A total of P100,000 in cash prizes await the winners in the schools category with P50,000 for first prize, P30,000 for second and P20,000 for third prize winners.

For both the barangay and open categories, prizes are P100,000, P75,000 and P50,000 for first, second and third prize winners.

The search for the MassKara Queen, on the other hand, will be held Thursday at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum . Ten Bacoleñas are vying to become the MassKara Queen who will represent Bacolod City as its Ambassadress of Goodwill, the press release said.

The 6th Majica MassKara that will be moving out of the gallery and going public this year will be launched on Wednesday with the unveiling of “Celebrating 30 Years of Smiles,” a float carrying major art works by at least 18 local artists. This will include dance, theatre art and lighting and special effects.

Project director Charlie Co said they will introduce something new, different and magical to show that Bacolod’s artists are indeed, very creative. “They were the ones who did things together and I was just like a conductor of the orchestra,” he said.

The result is something that will surely boost our spirit, each art work is different, he said.

The Majica MassKara float will be available for public viewing on Thursday at Lascon Street , on Friday, from 8 to 10 p.m., when it will hold a parade as a prelude to the 2009 Electric MassKara. On Saturday, it will be set in front of the Inaka Restaurant in Lacson Street , and on Sunday it will be at the New Government Center during the countdown to midnight for the Charter Day of Bacolod City.

Eli Tajanlangit of the Silver MassKara Festival Organization said that while the Majica MassKara 6 depicts celebrating 30 years of the festival, it is also an artistic vision of what the future MassKara should look like.

:: Ms. Masskara Queen 2009 pics::

:: Masskara 2009 Schedule of Activities:

MASSKARA TRAFFIC ADVISORY

Oct. 15, Thursday: The Tourism Strip, from 5th to North Drive along Lacson Street will be closed from 8 to 10 p.m. for the Majika MassKara parade, a prelude to the 2009 Electric MassKara.

Oct. 16 to 18, Friday to Sunday: The Tourism Strip, partial shutdown 12 noon; total shutdown, 4 p.m. 2009 Electric MassKara

Daily: Shutdown starting at 5 p.m., Bacolod Public Plaza *