Fruits in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato are so abundant that at harvest time, the locals line the streets eith them – literally.

The undisputed highlight of the city’s Timpupo fruit festival is “Fruits Galore,” where some 30 tons of assorted fruit are laid out across a 1.5 kilometer-long table set at the center of the Kidapawan’s main thoroughfare, thousands of locals and visitors freely partake of this colorful spread possibly the biggest fruit banquet in the whole country, in full appreciation of the fact that at no other time is nature’s bounty more delicious than when it shared.

Tinmpupo, whose name means “harvest” in the Manobo togue, is a weeklong festivity held between August and October, depending entirely on when fruits are ripe. It was conceptualized to showcase Kidapawan’s array of exotic fruits, such as durian, mangosteen, lanzones, marang, ranbutan, and banana. The fruit theme is pretty consistent 0 from the fruit-festooned costumes of the street performers to the “Fruit Float Parade,” participated in with much enthusiasm by all 40 barangays, making it one of the longest processions of adorned floats ever. A parade of giant fruit replicas in paper Mache is also he’d to educate the little ones of their city’s main agricultural product; while for he farmers and producers, there are seminars introducing new food processing techniques and packaging methods. This way, fruits and fruit products can be had in Kidapawan most any tome of the year. “Fruits Galore” whenever we want? Now wouldn’t that be just sweet.