'We're overwhelmed': Thousands attend Saskatoon Filipino Music and Food Fest
When Chris Rod and other fellow organizers first met three years ago to discuss what would become The Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Street Fest, he never imagined what he saw all weekend at Kiwanis Memorial Park.
Organizers envisioned hundreds of attendees showing up for the three-day festival, not the thousands that danced to music, clapped along to performances and ate meal after meal from some of the many vendors.
“It (was) 200 and 300 people for a day,” Rod said. “We're overwhelmed with how many people have been coming in.”
Last year, the festival lasted two days downtown, and shutdown part of 23rd Street. This year’s festival took over Kiwanis Park with up to 10 times as many people as originally estimated in attendance.
“In the Philippines, we celebrate festivals almost every single day and there's so many islands, so many cities, so many provinces, 7,600 islands. Everybody celebrates a certain festival. So this is more of a culture that we want to impart here that we always celebrate festivals,” Rod said.
On Saturday, nearly every vendor sold out of food because of the foot traffic.
Toni Chin, the president of the Saskatoon Association of Filipino Entrepreneurs, had trouble grasping how much food was being served.
“Maybe a tonne of meat a day,” he said. “For us, we have served a tonne and a half of meat for the three days and we’re still running out. It’s amazing.”
As excited as Chin was with the turnout and the affect it was having on his business Flor's Filipino Specialty Catering Service, he admitted he was equally exhausted.
“This celebration and festival has been absolutely terrific, (but) at the same time gruesome because of the preparation,” Chin said.
Now of course the music and dancing was featured heavily in the festival, but the main star was the food. Between the pork and chicken adobo, stir-fried noodles, spring rolls and heaps of rice, Rod couldn’t list a favourite. But he said no Filipino festival is complete without a pig roast.
“That is the traditional food that everybody enjoys when we have festivals,” Rod said.
“It wouldn’t be the same without the pig roast and without the fire,” Chin said. “It’s what makes it more festive.”
While both Rod and Chin were already scheming on how to make next year’s festival even better, they were overjoyed to see dozens of distinct cultures from the Philippines come together for three days of non-stop fun and entertainment.
“Everybody just comes together, drops all those kind of disagreements and all that but then comes together for the food and music festival,” Rod said.
“That's the one memory that we all will always cherish.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.