Masskara Festival in the City of Smiles, Bacolod

The Masskara Festival (Hiligaynon: Pista sang MassKara, Filipino: Fiesta ng MassKara) is a festival held each year in Bacolod, Philippines, every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter anniversary

International Journey
Since its inception, the Masskara festival has repeatedly represented the country in some of the major Asian festivals, particularly the Chinggay Festival in Singapore in 1998, the Lunar Festival of Hong Kong in 2001, the International Tourism Festival of Shanghai in 2004 and the Midosuji Festival Parade of Osaka, Japan. The Masskara Festival delegation emerged as champion in the foreign category and first runner–up in the local category. It was the first award to be given to a foreign participant in the ten-year history of the Japanese festival.

Masks
The Masks in the History of the festival is constantly changing from masks influenced by native Filipinos which slowly was then influenced by Carnival of Venice and Rio Carnival motifs. Earlier Masks had feathers, native beads, and masks were hand painted while modern masks feature plastic beads, plastic.

Events
The festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully masked dancers gyrating to the rhythm of Latin musical beats in a display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina. Major activities include the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, carnivals, drum and bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized ad-hoc every year.

Street Dancing
The Street Dancing is divided into two categories; the schools division and the barangays, the latter is considered as the highlight of the street dancing competition.