The annual Filipino Fiesta is held every first Sunday of June at the Jose Rizal Community Center…read more(Florin Mall Drive) to celebrate Philippine Independence Day. It's definitely a showcase of Central Valley Filipino-ness, culture and talent! It's run by six Filipino American community organizations and promotes community and youth relations, educating on history, with cultural activities and other festival events.
The highlights of the fiesta include a parade, live entertainment, eskrima & arnis tournaments, traditional Filipino food. All ages, free entry, purchases out of pocket. 2022 was the first in-person event since Covid! The Fiesta went from 10am-5pm. When I arrived around 11am, it was pretty packed and I had to parallel park on the side street rather than the main parking lots. Weather was that weird overcast sprinkly light wind which doesn't scream "June" summertime, but for being out on the grassy area it was ok for walking.
They had a charity car show/contest (Team LoveHATE and Neu Era), many many vendor booths from sponsors such as SMUD, UC Davis Health, Vaccinate All 58, Kaiser Permanente, Cache Creek, East Lawn, Sac Asian Chamber of Commerce (shout-out to Nikki S.!) giving out free 10-pack N95 masks and up to 3 Covid tests and other fun stalls like QTEA Boba (taro, milk tea, thai tea), a candle shop, a sticker shop, Filipino wares/crafts like island dresses, fun shirts, bracelets, Filipino flags, etc. My fave was the MTPhotos Sac mini photobooth and raffle (shoutout Misty T.!). They had an outdoor stage for music, performers as well as an indoor stage with performances by Sinagtala, tinikling (bamboo traditional folk dance), kung fu demonstration, Zumba, an oldies band, Polynesian dancers.
The food trucks were very popular. Official vendors were Hella Halo (halo-halo), Pinorrito, Daisy's Desserts, My Lumpia Lady, Duffy's Hot Dogs, Angry Asian Chef, and Sugarbar. They had some tables and chairs for people to sit and eat too. I saw people eating chicken adobo and rice, lumpia, bbq on a stick, pancit! I picked up a few sweet treats from Ube Galore Breads & More (Bay Area-based) -- ube eggpie and ube cassava to take home...delicious!