CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Barangay Dolores will try to write history as it battles nine other barangays in its attempt to bag the rare grand slam feat in the Grand Lantern Fest on December 17.
Barangay Dolores chairman Vilma Caluag admits the pressure to win this year’s installation of the world-renowned festival is three times that of their victory in 2014.
“Aside from a pressure to simply win, we are now on the verge of winning the coveted grand slam trophy,” said Caluag, who has teamed-up anew with veteran lantern-maker Teddy Aguilar.
Another win this year and Dolores will take home the coveted trophy that will put it in the annals of the Grand Lantern Festival history as the first barangay to win the title for three consecutive years.
The road to grand slam, though, is not that easy as all the nine other competitors could make it their unified mission to scuttle the plan of Barangay Dolores to get the grand slam trophy.
A win for Dolores this year will up the ante in the succeeding competition as other barangays will have to win three years in a row to proximate a grand slam record.
“We feel that every other barangay in the competition will try to beat us. But, that’s good for us because this will further motivate us to be much better this year,” Caluag added.
The grand slam attempt hangs by the balance of colors to be played by the more than 14,000 lightbulbs carefully installed in the 20-foot lantern.
Aguilar and his team got the boost in getting the services of a local artisan, Rogelio “Ruming” Santos, as their rotor-maker.
Santos pioneered the use of galvanized iron plates for the rotors, which are drums that carry the “codes” that make the lanterns play intricate patterns of colors.
The rotor is wrapped in masking tapes and the pattern is cut out, exposing some surface of the metal where electricity will pass from the drum, rubbed off a series of stranded aluminum cable wires, and then through electrical wires and, finally, to the colored lightbulbs.
Barangay Dolores started lantern work in August and finished its entry by November. –Albert Lacanlale / Contributor