By Philippine News Agency ORMOC CITY, Leyte --The city’s prime crop -- sweet pineapples -- will take center stage in the upcoming Piña Festival on June 24, a celebration that is seen to draw thousands of spectators. Mayor Richard Gomez said this year’s festival will be merrier with colorful and lively street dancing festival, highlighting the city’s queen pineapple, which locals claim as the sweetest in the world. “We’re always expecting a bigger crowd. We always want to surpass the number of visitors in the past festival. We get the different groups to work together to show the best presentation,” the actor-turned-mayor said during the press briefing at the new Robinsons Place Ormoc Wednesday night. The second Piña festival, to be joined by at least 10 contingents, is one of the highlights of the city fiesta celebration. Each contingent, composed of hundreds of dancers and performers from different high schools and colleges, will awe the crowd both in ritual showdown and street dance. Other main events are “Parade of Lights”, Miss Ormoc 2018 beauty pageant, and some religious activities. The “Parade of Lights” will feature a combination of luminescent vehicles and illuminated costumes in the theme of top-grossing movies, such as Avengers, Moana, Cars, etc. The city government has set aside PHP20 million for the fiesta-related activities, seen as key to attract thousands of visitors from other areas and promote queen pineapple. “There’s a huge demand for our juicy, crunchy, and sweet pineapple, but we can only meet the requirement of Eastern Visayas and some establishments in Cebu,” Gomez told reporters. At least 500 hectares of local agricultural land, primarily owned by three well-known families, are devoted to pineapple. More than 100 tons of pineapple are produced every year. In between main events are fun-filled days, such as the Ormoc Food Bazaar at the plaza area, barangay (village) day, educator’s night, religious night, market vendor’s night, civic society organizations event, government employees talent show, business night, and Balikbayan congress. Also scheduled are sporting events at the plaza, such as basketball tournaments, laser run, boxing and mixed martial arts bouts, fun races, and the first Ormoc Dragon Boat Mayor’s Cup organized by the Philippine Canoe and Kayak Foundation. The festive month will be capped by a concert that will feature various artists on June 29. Ormoc City is a first-class independent component city of Leyte province with a population of 215,031, making it the second most-populous city in the province after Tacloban, the regional capital. It is the economic, cultural, commercial and transportation hub of western Leyte.