Attractions

Major Attractions and Festival

•    Tiringbanay Festival
Tiringbanay Festival is celebrated during the last week of April up to May 1. The annual festival celebrates unity of the  people of San Jose de Buenavista. It coincides with the religious fiesta of St. Joseph the Worker.





•   Coastal Resource Mini Gallery and the Marine Protected Area (MPA)

The Coastal Resource Mini Gallery, formerly the MPA Center, is located in Taringting Brgy. Funda-Dalipe, San Jose de Buenavista, Antique. It is 1.2km away from the national road fronting the Antique Electric Cooperative (ANTECO) office. It was established to increase awareness and appreciation of the marine environment and its management.

The Mini Gallery offers a peek of the underwater world of the plants and animals that live in the coasts of the Province of Antique and the Municipality of San Jose de Buenavista and features colorful walls decorated with marine artwork, educational stations, short videos and outdoor activities that are appropriate for science curriculum of the Department of Education.

The center accepts reservations for science educational tours for the following topics:

• The Marine Habitats;
• The Aquatic Animals especially Invertebrates and Vertibrates;
• Feeding Relationships and the Foodweb; and
• Coastal Resource Management

The Mini Gallery will also offer soon snorkeling tours at the MPA 10-hectare core zone. The core zone is locally known s "Lamawan Pony" and is shaped like the island of Panay and also features a detached reef that divers tag as "Guimaras."











•    Lumang Simbahan (Brgy. San Pedro)
According to visitaiglesia.com, the old Catholic church lying in ruins was built by the Augustinians during the Spanish regime. It has a shape of a Latin cross with three gates; it is 77 meters long and 14 meters wide. Its roof was made of cogon grass but according to the legend, the monkey pet of a priest burned it and since then the church has remained unfinished.

•    Farmville ( Brgy. San Pedro)
Farmville is a one-hectare demo farm of the Municipal Government using the Integrated Framing Approach and focused on organic farming. It is a venue for learning and center of technology transfer for farmers and students.

It features a Hybrid  Rice Model Farm; Tilapia, Pangasius and Hito Production; Production of Ornamental Fishes; Small-scale Enterprise for Broiler and Layer-Chicken Production; Piglet Dispersal;  Hog Fattening; Small-scale Duck Raising; Livestock Fattening; Upgraded Goat Dispersal; Upgraded Native Chicken Production and Dispersal; Green-House for High Value and Commercial Crops Production; Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT); Ornamental Plants Propagation; Nursery Project for Fruit-Bearing Trees; Mushroom Culture/Production; Organic Fertilizer Production (Vermi Composting, Mechanical Shredding  and   Carbonized Rice Hull); Organic Garden Soil Formulation; Organic Vegetable Production; and a Biological Control laboratory.

Activities available: Collecting chicken eggs, harvesting mushrooms, fruits and/or vegetables.

Other Attractions and Events

Karay-a Arts Festival held during the later half of October is an event promoting Karay-a culture and intercultural exchange among other cultural groups in Western Visayas. It features art and trade exhibit, creative workshops, and performance art shows.

Binirayan Festival commemorates the legend of the arrival of the ten Bornean datus on the   island of Aninipay now known as Panay. The event features the reenactment of the arrival of Bornean Datus and the barter of Panay, a torch parade, Lin-ay kang Antique beauty pageant, food fest and trade exhibit.

Holy Week (Semana Santa). Starting Maundy Thursday until Black Staurday, religious icons are paraded garbed in their best clothes, in the Poblacion and in Brgy. San Pedro, in caros   filled with flowers and lightings. During Good Friday the  locals gather the flowers decorating the religious icons’ caros believing that it will bring good fortune. A popular local event is the burning of the effigy of Judas Escariot at the plaza of Brgy. San Pedro.
EBJ Freedom Park and the Old Capitol Building. Evelio B. Javier Freedom Park was where the former Governor Evelio Javier was martyred. The EBJ brass statues designed and created by National Artist and noted Antiqueño architect and sculptor Jeremias Elizalde Navarro now stands in the park with his left hand waving a with a peace sign. Across the Park is the Old Capitol Building constructed during the American Period.

Binirayan Hills where the Evelio B. Javier Sport Complex is located. The sports complex hosts major sports event in the province and the region. The complex is also a living monument of the Antiqueno’s bayanihan spirit as the foundation of the sports complex was constructed through voluntary service. This place is also a witness of the first Binirayan Festival. The hills surrounding the sports complex offers a sweeping view of a portion of San Jose de Buenavista. Bondoc’s, a restaurant located in Binirayan Hills, has a viewing deck where one can see the panorama for a fee.