The highlight of the First Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival, Bacolod City attempted to break the world record in the longest barbecue and was able to set up a 3.985-kilometer chicken barbeque grill at the North Wing Parking area of SM City-Bacolod last May 19. Current holder of the record is the Municipality of Santo Tomas, Pangasinan which measured 3.803 kilometers.
It takes four to six weeks for Guinness to validate if indeed a world record was made. However, I think what’s important is that Bacolod City officials, with the help of the people of Bacolod, were able to hold the First Chicken Inasal Festival.
Bacolod City is known for the distinct taste of Chicken Inasal which turned the Manokan Country a food destination for tourists. The celebration of the Inasal Festival is one way of promoting chicken inasal to attract more tourists.
Guinness or no Guinness, the unity of the people behind a worthy cause was already achieved. I was there last May 19 and I witnessed the number of people who came and joined. The whole SM North Wing Parking was filled with smoke and you can barely see people a meter away from you. It was like a scene from Ground Zero. But people still lined up to participate in this historic event. The police obviously had some trouble in crowd control as they did not expect the number of people who participated. Hopefully, next year will be better.