The Saskatchewan Filipino Music & Food Street Festival is in Saskatoon this weekend.
It started Friday at the Kiwanis Memorial Park and went from 11am until 9pm. There have been big crowds.
“With all the diversity we have here in Saskatoon, which has been growing for many years, the Philippines (community) has been growing extremely big for the past few years, so we don’t want to lose that culture and heritage,” said Chris Rodriguez, GKM Events Management CEO.
A big part of that culture and heritage is food.
Some of the food being offered includes roasted pork, spring rolls, and stir-fry noodles.
Rodriguez says the food has been a hit.
“Well, the first day went really well, despite the weather being gloomy and rainy. We were surprised. A lot of our vendors were happy and some of them sold out on the first day,” said Rodriguez.
Salma Zahid is a proud Filipino and she came from Toronto to Saskatoon to be at the festival.
In 2018 she wrote to the federal government asking it to declare the month of June to be Filipino Heritage Month.
“It was really very important that we celebrate the culture, the rich heritage of the Filipino community in Canada and I was very proud when it passed unanimously on October 30th 2018 in the house of commons,” said Salma Zahid, Member of Parliament.
She says she’s happy seeing everyone get together from a movement she helped make happen.
“It was great to be celebrating along the river, the Filipino food and music and culture,” said Zahid.
The festival runs until Sunday evening at 9pm.