The Filipino culture was on full display at the annual Manitoba Filipino Street Festival this weekend.
Music, dancing and food, filled the parking lot in front of Maples Community Centre with small tent shops set up along the grass.
“We started with about $20,000 for budget and about 40 associations and groups within the Filipino community,” said chairman Ley Navarro. “Now we’ve grown to about 60 associations and groups and a lot of sponsors.”
This is the first year that the festival expanded to being a two-day event, and also the first year of it being hosted in The Maples. In the previous two years it took place downtown on the streets in front of the Manitoba Legislature.
Navarro said the food has always been one of the main attractions.
“A lot of our food is called street food,” he said. “They are not available in any Filipino restaurants here.”
One of the chefs cooking street food is Alain Genota. He and his family make pork skewers and a popular dish called isaw, which is grilled large intestines from a pig.
“You can see it everywhere (in the Phillippines). On every corner, someone will be selling it,” he said. “That’s why we cook isaw because Filipinos here in Winnipeg miss it.”
“We like to share it with all of Winnipeg, so they can taste it, they can try it, and they can enjoy it.”
Clarita Nazario moved to Winnipeg from the Phillippines in 1995. She’s been at every Filipino festival selling her handmade jackets, dresses and other clothing. She used to have a garment factory in the Philippines.
“I just want to show the whole world, here we are in other countries, but we still love to promote our own culture,” she said.
Navarro said the Filipino population in Winnipeg continues to grow.
“I’m not going to say yearly but I’m going to say weekly,” he said. “Every week there’s a new family that comes in from the Philippines.”
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