San Diego County has more than 200,000 Filipino-Americans, more than any region in the United States.
Who knew?
Patriotic, civic minded and talented, the county’s Filipino population also tend to be humble and quiet.
Filipino-American Arts and Culture Festival is an effort to change that. FilAm Fest did it up big during its 14th annual event that celebrates Filipino-American History Month.
Southwestern College’s Filipino-American learning community, the Bayan Student Organization, was there. Bayan Vice President Marisol Nance and 10 other members staffed a booth and spread the word.
“It is a good opportunity to represent Bayan at FilAm and get our organization’s name out and known to more people,” she said. “FilAm is such a great opportunity for our students because they were able to volunteer, and network.”
Performers like the Philippine Performing Arts Company (PASACAT), soul singer Missy Alcazar and acoustic artist Madison Nocon took the stage. Event organizer James Diokno said his team wanted to celebrate Fil-Am talent.
“We pride ourselves in the ability to add fresh, new and undiscovered talent as well as reprise timeless favorites,” he said. “One thing we are really looking forward to this year is the dominance of female performers and artists on the main stage.”
Dancers’ vibrant orange, pink, and yellow traditional dresses twisted and bounced joyously across the stage like a flock of tropical birds. Children and teens sang proudly in Tagalog while performing Tinikling, a traditional Philippines folk dance.
Swarms of visitors cruised the festival browsing the booths and sampling Filipino food, Nance among them.
“I had some really good food,” she said. “I saw that there is lumpia, pancit, steam buns and dumplings. I also enjoyed trying the mochi and boba.”
Jared Pangan said he was impressed by Filipino-American entrepreneurs.
“The businesses that came out here are local and family-owned, and put Filipino values at heart,” he said. “These are businesses that are owned and run by Filipinos, which is a great thing to recognize.”
Pangan said he was inspired by FilAm Fest.
“Celebrating Filipino culture with those young and old fills me with so much energy to go out and just do more for the world as a proud Filipino-American,” he said. “It is satisfying and very fulfilling to come here because I see that the elders who came here today legitimately care about educating me about my blood history and showing me how to uplift other Filipino Americans.”
Anthony Alcos agreed.
“FilAm really captured the Filipino vibe,” he said. “We’re just enjoying our family time right now. We feel comfortable being around so many people of the same ethnicity. I am glad Filipinos are doing cultural types of events like this in America, especially during Filipino American History Month. I love to see my culture get together.”
