12 August 2021, Calgary – A two-day street festival featuring Filipino music and food was successfully held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on 6-7 August 2021.
Organized by the Filipino-owned GRM Events Management of business partners Chris Rodrigues and Ferdinand Mendoza and supported by various sponsors, the 1st Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Street Festival featured seven Filipino food vendors and live performances of four Filipino local bands and two Filipino dance groups.
Among the popular Filipino dishes that attracted a long line of people - Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike - were lechon (roasted pig), barbeque, pancit (Filipino noodle), goto (rice porridge with meat), lumpia (spring roll), taho (Filipino silken tofu) and sago’t gulaman (Filipino beverage made of brown sugar, water, gelatin, and tapioca pearls).
It was the first stand-alone Filipino street festival in Saskatoon, a city of 295,000 people hosting about 12,000 Filipino-Canadians based on the 2016 Canada Census. The festival was held at the 23rd Street E located between Saskatoon’s City Hall and public library.
Consul General Zaldy Patron traveled to Saskatoon from his base in Calgary, Alberta, to show the Philippine Consulate General’s support for the event and the Filipino community.
“I congratulate all the organizers, vendors, sponsors and the members of the Filipino community in Saskatoon for successfully staging the 1st Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Street Festival. Through this festival, we were able to showcase the Filipino culture through our music and food,” he said about the event.
He also lauded the Filipinos in Saskatchewan for their contributions to the local economy of the province and urged them to continue to live up to the Filipinos’ outstanding reputation in Saskatchewan.
The day before the festival, Consul General Patron met with Saskatoon Mayor Charles Clark and Saskatoon Tourism CEO Steph Clovechok in the Filipino-owned Flor’s Restaurant. He thanked the two officials for allowing the Filipino street festival to take place in the city.
Mayor Clark said he welcomed the opportunity to highlight the Filipino community in his city.
