Gapan City in Nueva Ecija is known as the Tsinelas Capital of the Philippines, and every August it celebrates its shoemaking pride with the Tsinelas Festival. Local workshops in Gapan produce slippers and sandals sold all over the country, and the festival showcases that industry with parades, street dancing, trade fairs, and displays of giant tsinelas. The celebration coincides with the anniversary of Gapan’s cityhood — it became a city on August 25, 2001 — making the festival both a thanksgiving for the city’s main livelihood and a homecoming for Gapeños. These photos were taken during the Tsinelas Festival in August 2010.
See also: Festivals of the North 2010
