Huge crowds gathered in Coachella Valley over the weekend for the first annual Filipino Festival.
The family-friendly event was held on Sunday, October 8, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., NBC Palm Springs reports. The festival was created to kick-off Filipino American History Month.
Attendees enjoyed Filipino food, drinks, activities and performances. According to NBC Palm Springs, performers included Ruby Ibarra, DJ Nico Blitz, Kayamanan Ng Lahi, Junior New System and Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble/
The goal of the festival was to celebrate the Filipino American community in Coachella Valley. The community is often underacknowledged despite having deep roots in the area.
“We didn’t feel like there was a level of visibility that reflected that,” Michael Milan, chair of the event’s planning committee, told The Palm Springs Post.
Filipinos were happy to see one another at the festival.
“We were skeptical if there was a big Filipino following in the valley and surprisingly, look at us, we’re here and you know, it still gives me chills every time,” Palm Desert native, Raychelle Devilla, told KESQ.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
Happy Lunar New Year. Help us get over the top. We are now 91% of our goal of meeting our $5,000 matching grant challenge with less than 4 full days to go. Every donation will be matched dollar for dollar through Sunday for up to the remaining $500 from our challenge. All donations will go toward fully funding an editor position at AsAmNews and to support our reporting. You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed.
Please also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
