Gainza trade fair to reel off Sept 7

Bicol Mail

Giving local entrepreneurs the opportunity to establish an expanded network through which they can market their goods, the organizers of the 2012 Bishop Francisco Gainza Trade Fair are now poised to start preparations for the nine-day trade exhibit that will begin on September 7, this year.

The sales event showcasing the best of Bicol products and services is also aimed to promote entrepreneurship among the locals to help boost the government’s poverty alleviation program.

Named in honor of Bishop Gainza who put up the first agro-industrial show in Bicol during the Peñafrancia celebration in 1875, the trade fair is now on its third year since it was revived in September 2010.

Organizers of the trade fair are eyeing Plaza Rizal in downtown Naga to be this year’s venue in the hope of providing a more accessible site than in previous years when it was held in SM City Naga where only a limited number of exhibitors were given the opportunity to join.

It was learned that an SM restriction barred a number of exhibitors from participating while those who were accommodated struggled to recover the cost of joining the exhibit vis-à-vis poor sales.

The event’s organizers said they would ask the city government to allow them to use the plaza, a historical landmark, for the Peñafrancia fiesta trade exhibit.

A hearing on the proposal-request has been set by the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Investment, Trade and Economic Enterprises at 2:00 p.m. on April 2, at the SP session hall.

The trade fair is expected to foster renewed interest of doing business in the centro, the city’s original business district.