Celebration of Filipino culture takes over downtown

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2016 (3692 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s bustling Filipino community came out in droves to the fifth annual Manitoba Filipino Street Festival on Saturday.

The festival features a morning parade through downtown, cultural dance competitions and performances from local musicians.

With the help of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ’s Host It Program, the festival has moved from Garden City to its new location downtown. The Host It Program started two years ago, and was designed to encourage existing and new events to take place in the downtown area, said Rose Dominguez, events coordinator with Downtown Winnipeg BIZ.

“We recognize the Filipino community as a whole in terms of its over 60,000 (population) in Winnipeg and we definitely see the liveliness and the positive atmosphere that the Filipino culture brings to the northwest part of the city,” she said. “And it would be great for other parts of the city to have that accessible to them downtown.”

Various Filipino community and cultural organizations took part in the parade. Tents for community associations lined Memorial Boulevard and Broadway and were decorated according to the region they represent.

Winnipeggers were treated to creative and colourful floats depicting traditional Filipino culture. Performers danced and played traditional music as they made their way through the streets, handing out candy and hugs to friends and family as they went.

The festival began in 2012 out of a desire to create something for the community, said Aida Champagne, chairman of the Manitoba Filipino Street Festival. “To unite them, to showcase our culture, heritage and tradition here in Manitoba.”

She added that the idea of Filipino festivals isn’t unique to Winnipeg – they’re also held in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

But Manitoba’s significant Filipino population meant it was “time we had our own festival” said Champagne.

“A lot of people have been here for the longest time and they kind of miss the Philippines (and) the way they celebrate their culture,” she said, adding the festival usually draws between eight and 12,000 people.

For festival-goer, Eloida Ruiz, the annual festival serves as a reminder of the culture they had in the Philippines. “That’s why it’s important to celebrate every year, at least once a year, so the Filipinos who were born here can see what the culture was back home,” she said.

Her son, John, said the festival helps Filipinos introduce their culture to others, like Canadians. “There are different parts of the Philippines that are being introduced here too. We have a different culture for each region and stuff,” he said. “It’s great to introduce it to Canadians.”

Canadians also joined in the fun on Saturday, taking in the parade and enjoying the day’s festivities. Darcy Moshenko and his family used to live in Winnipeg before they moved up north to Hay River, North West Territories. Their visit to Winnipeg happened to coincide with Saturday’s celebrations.

“It’s amazing,” said eight-year-old Madisen Moshenko, watching the parade go by. “My favourite part was that there are some very colourful floats. I liked their costumes and everything.”

The festival and atmosphere brought back memories of home for friends Krisha Bernardo, 16, and Alyanna Ponce, 17.

Ponce and Bernardo have been living in Winnipeg for four and five years, respectively, and both said they visit home a lot. Bernardo said she still gets feelings of homesickness.

“(The festival) is pretty fun because Filipinos always smile and all of them are approaching you like, ‘Hey, good morning!'” she said.

“I think it’s expressing who we are,” said Bernardo. “We always have this thing back home, we always have this kind of parade every month. So I think it’s showcasing what back home is for us.”

The festival takes place in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building at Broadway and Memorial and runs until 10 p.m.

alexandra.depape@freepress.mb.ca