Gualberto Avenue is already decorated with banderitas for the upcoming town fiesta. But when do you think is our fiesta? April 22? No. Since 2008, it was officially moved to October 7 upon the recognition of the Sangguniang Bayan of the declaration of the parish to celebrate the town fiesta on the feast of our patron.
SANGGUNIANG BAYAN KAPASIYAHAN BLG. 28-2008:
"IPINASIYA, na ipabatid sa Kgg. na Punong Bayan at sa bumubuo ng komitiba ng kultura at sining na kinikilala ng Sangguniang Bayan ang deklarasyon ng kura paroko ng simbahang katoliko at ng komitiba ukol pagdiriwang ng kapistahan ng ating patron ang Sto. Rosario."
A bit of history, we've been celebrating our town fiesta on April 22 but before that, we used to celebrate it on January 19. Here are some of the accounts of Mr. Conrado Reyes from his book, "Rosario of Batangas: Its Origin and Development":
On January 19, 1909, Bishop (Gregorio) Aglipay celebrated the 1st Aglipayan mass in the Church of Rosario--gaining a foot hold in this part of Batangas for his church.
The Rosario town fiesta which was used to be celebrated on January 19, was moved to April 22 in the early 1920's, on the petition of students studying in Batangas and in Manila to give them time to attend the fiesta while on summer vacation.
April is summertime but it is not clear why the fiesta is set exactly on April 22 before but there is an urban legend that there was a beautiful lady in Rosario that made the son of a governor fall for her. The lady's birthday is April 22, and for the guy to be able to attract the girl, he declared the feast of Rosario on the birthday of his love.