With the holiday celebrations over, Mabalaquenians expressed delight over the Mabalacat Christmas Village, which spread the festive holiday spirit in Mabalacat City over the past eight weeks.

Bigger and better, the Christmas Village opened to the public on November 10, 2023 along McArthur Highway, beside the St. Rafael Parish in Brgy. Mabiga.

The village had musical presentations, concerts and nightly programs, beauty pageant, a giant lantern, a 30-foot Christmas tree, Food & Non-Food Bazaar, Christmas decorations which are good for photo-ops, an Inflatable Playground and a Carnival with rides. It was one of the most attended Christmas-themed family fun and destinations in Pampanga.

The project is the brainchild of Mayor Crisostomo Garbo and local executives. It was implemented by General Services Office head June Magbalot, who is widely credited for its MaGARBOng CRISmas theme.

Magbalot is the person behind the success of many events and festivals such as the Aliw Awardee Caragan Fiesta and Miss Mabalacat pageant.

Here are some of the comments about the village:

“𝐴𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑚𝑔𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑎 𝑙𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑎.”
— Herlyn Caburog Agas

“𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒.”
— Aquino Blume

“𝑊𝑜𝑤 𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑛𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑃𝑜 𝐽𝑎𝑛… 𝑁𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑘𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑥 𝑛𝑔𝑎 𝑃𝑜 𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑎🫰🫰🫰🫰”
— Jen Ra

“𝐴𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝐺𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑎 𝐴𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑔𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑙𝑎 💚❤️💖❤️‍🩹💛🎄🌲🎄🌲🎄🌲”
— Azucena de Jesus Bangcayao

“…𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑝 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑎 😅”
— Lemon Sareya