MassKara Festival
Mask Party, Street Dance, Carnival · Bacolod City, Western Negros, Philippines
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The festival
Born in 1980, in the midst of a sugar crisis and a few months after the shipwreck of the Don Juan ferry, the MassKara Festival was created to give Bacolod a smile: her dancers wear masks with brilliant smiles, emblem of the resilience of the City of Smiles. Her name, imagined by artist Ely Santiago, marries "mass" (the multitude) and "cara" (the face).
For almost three weeks in October, the city lives at the pace of street dance competitions between schools and barangays, concerts and the Electric MassKara. The edition 2026, the 47th, organized by the Bacolod Gugma Foundation with the City, had as its theme "Share the Smile. Celebrate Gugma" — shares the smile, celebrates love.
Good to know
Organiser 2026: Bacolod Gugma Foundation Inc. and government of the City of Bacolod (issues 2022-2024 were owned by the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation — no longer use this name).Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MassKaraFestival2026. No site dedicated to the festival is confirmed active in 2026 (the former domain masskarafestival.ph answers 403): the official online presence is the portal of the City of Bacolod. The title "Parade of Champions" for the closing of October 25 is that of the Official Page; other sources speak of closing ceremonies and awards ("Gega Black Party & Awarding"). Champion barangay 2026: Barangay Taculating (October 18).