Davao's Peoples Park

Date: August 10 2012
Address: Palma Gil Street, Davao City
Admission: Free
Open Hours: 2pm to 11pm
Dancing Fountain Schedule: Friday, Saturday and Sunday 7-8pm

The People's Park in Davao was a recent development in the city. It was the former dilapidated Palaruang Panlungsod also known as the PTA Ground where it used to host athletic meets and sports event in the city. But in 2007, it was transformed into a huge 4-hectare themed park planted with different species of trees and plants from different countries, adorned with gigantic statues made by Davao's pride artist, Kublai Khan, interactive water fountains and cascading waterfalls. With the almost 70 million worth project, the city did not get wrong. The recent development made this plaza one of the iconic place, a must see tourist destination in the city. 

The picture above is the Durian Dome. The entrance of the park is embellished with pictures shot during the Kadayawan Festival (as shown below) while its roof is artistically designed like that of the Durian, icon fruit of Davao. 

We went around the Plaza and found out that artworks sculpted by Kublai Khan, a Davao based artist, are scattered around it. It features the great Philippine Eagle, the Lumads, flowers and plants.

Going further around, we found a huge walkway they call it "The Promenade". They said this was the former oval race track of the old sports complex. Developers maintained and improved the track to encourage Davaoenos to have a healthy lifestyle. Imagine? Running around the plaza with a greenery lush background is just so inspiring.

Pine Trees exported from Baguio (?)

Further more, we found this so called "Cascading Waterfalls" (Photo below) but unfortunately, it was passed 9pm and the water show just ended. Accordingly, it rose to 10 meters high using real volcanic rocks as walls. 

We continued our tour around the plaza and found this sculptures along the way. And this is worth noting but I'm not really sure with their idea putting this structure (referring to the photo below), probably this is a way they wanted to encourage reading books (like what the scripture is saying) especially to children visiting the park.

The park is really a great place to roam around when in Davao. In fact, the park was jam packed that night with families sitting on benches and grass ground and a handful of foreign tourists too. We were also entertained by Filipino songs by their piped in music while strolling inside. And best of all, we all experienced this free of charge. 

We really had great time inside the plaza but unfortunately we were stunned by a loud noise. The loud noise was telling us that the park is about to close in an hour. I was really thinking that the plaza is open for anyone at anytime but not. So I got puzzled and made a research. I realized that they needed time to check and maintain the cleanliness of the park and its facilities to retain its splendor and glory.

Curious with how it got its name? The Davao City Government sponsored "Name the Park" contest and this was bagged by Romeo Sardon, a retired electrician and seaman. His entry was chosen from among 918 entries who joined and won P50000 grand prize cash.

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