Despite only having three weeks to plan, the Filipino Music and Food Street Festival exceeded expectations of the organizers as they promised a bigger event next year. A portion of 23rd Street, just beside the Saskatoon City Hall, was closed to traffic over the weekend with Filipino food being the highlight of the two-day festivities.
Filipinos and others from the community were treated to Filipino food like lechon (roasted pig), grilled pork belly, crispy fried chicken skin, pancit (noodles), Filipino-style dumplings, lumpia (spring rolls) silvanas (frozen cookies), and banana cue (fried bananas). Kids were treated to balloon animal-making and face painting while a Filipino dance group entertained the crowd with folk dances.
Chris Rodriguez, known in the Filipino community as Chris Rod, said he and his business partner Ferdinand Mendoza were at first hesitant in holding the inaugural festival as it was uncertain about what the provincial government’s plans were with the ongoing pandemic.
“The story behind this is this used to be only a Filipino Music Festival. We just had bands and other musicians, but due to the pandemic we held a virtual festival.
“But when the provincial government announced that restrictions will be lifted, my partner [Mendoza} and I talked it over. We said let’s do a festival since we want everybody to come out and have fun. That’s what happened, but there’s some uncertainty after the restrictions were lifted. We applied for a permit and the other festivals also announced they are going to do outdoor events, so we decided to do it. This is just three weeks of planning and we only got a few supporters from the private sector, but the turnout was overwhelming for us.”
Rodriguez, now that they have a longer time to plan, said that they are looking to have more attractions next year.
“We might have Filipino car enthusiasts and owners for a car show or motor show, then we will also plan to have something like a trade fair included in this festival. It will be a little bit bigger, and we have Filipino car groups where they can display their souped up cars.”
He added that they would still finalize whether to hold the festival either in August next year or earlier in the summer months.
“We haven’t finalized it yet. Since there is the Philippine Heritage Month in June, and we were thinking about aligning it with that event. But, usually, there are a lot of other events happening on that month. We’re thinking of making this as a stand-alone event, aside from the Heritage Month.”
“We will probably know in a month or two since we will back on the drawing board in the next few months to start planning for next year. Then we’re going to finalize the details and we could have a clearer picture by December.”
Philippine Consul General Zaldy Patron, who is based in Calgary but joined the festivities, said he was surprised at how the community came out to support the festival.
“I’m here to show my support for the Filipino community. I’m happy that this event took place since this showed to the people of Saskatoon our culture through our music and food.
“I have seen large turnout of people watching the event and I'm very happy to see even the non-Filipinos lining up to taste and try our Filipino food and other dishes. We also saw a lot of Filipino performers so it's surprising that even here in Saskatoon, we have a lot of talented Filipinos. I hope that this becomes become an annual event because we can see that this is well supported by the community.”
Patron added that even Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark supported the event since it showcases the diversity of the local community, where Filipinos have made a significant contribution to the economy, and arts and culture in the city.
“I’m pleased that the mayor himself has nothing but good words for the Filipino community.”
“We are much respected and welcomed here in the city because of our good reputation as being hard workers with good work ethics, and being friendly and happy people that they like very much. My message now to my fellow Filipinos in Saskatchewan that this event is a good way of showing our culture and highlighting our contributions to the to the province.”
As of the 2016 Canadian census, there is an estimated 32,000 Filipinos living in Saskatchewan with over 12,000 calling Saskatoon their home while more than 9,000 are in Regina.
“That’s a significant number and we can do a lot to contribute to Saskatoon and Saskatchewan in general,” added Patron.
