UPDATE (February 21, 2021): College of Development Communication Student Council (CDCSC) chair Camille Villanueva told the Perspective that the event has since been moved to February 28 to make way for mobs scheduled on the original date.
Instead of a weeklong festivity of cheers, stage lights, and shawarma, the annual Feb Fair will be a single livestream due to the pandemic.
The performances, political advocacies, and other related events and segments won’t be happening in the Freedom Park’s stage this year. Instead, for one day only, this year’s UPLB February Fair, otherwise known as simply “Feb Fair” will be streamed through Facebook Live on the event’s page this February 28, from 3 PM to 7 PM.
“Due to the unfortunate circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s FebFair [sic] will have a different approach. We will be implementing and celebrating the said event in an online setting and all performances, as well as political advocacies, will happen on a single day,” UPLB All Student Councils’ Assembly (ASCA) said in a promotional letter.
The theme will be “Balik-Tanaw,” with the event aiming to reflect on the event’s roots through the “striking similarities to the socio political [sic] climate of today” and the events that lead to the creation of Feb Fair. UPLB ASCA, who has been hosting the said event since September 1972, decided to push through such an event to continue half a century-long tradition.
The beneficiaries for this year’s Feb Fair will be the UPLB students who will need assistance for the incoming semester of AY 2020-2021.
Additionally, some annual activities such as the singing competition Star in Carillion, hosted by UPLB Development Communicators’ Society, Inc. (DCS), will be held online on February 27. Titled “SIC 18 Natatangi Ka: A Benefit Concert,” his event will function more as a benefit concert, in cooperation with Christian Foundation for Persons with Disabilities, Inc.
Beginning as a protest fair when the Marcos regime declared Martial Law in the 70s, becoming what is said to be the first mass gathering in the country, Feb Fair was originally held in September as a way of expressing dissent against the 14-years of dictatorship and the worsening state of the country up until today.
THE UPLB ASCA’s hosting of the event was due “in line with the student councils’ mandate to develop social awareness and responsibility geared towards the development of a nationalistic spirit rooted in democratic principles.”
The annual celebration caters mostly to the Southern Tagalog audience and consists of not just a lineup of performances and band guests, but also local exhibitions and stagings of different student organizations as well as advocacy campaigns in between. The fair usually features business or entertainment hubs and stalls, and shops for food, clothing, and accessories among other things. [P]
Photo from Juan Sebastian Evngelista
UPLB Perspective 
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