LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – The sights, smells and sounds of Filipino culture filled Fourth Street Live! Saturday, as Louisville’s Filipino community held its first-ever Independence Day celebration downtown.
“I’m just so glad that we have the venue space here to come out, not only with our grandparents, but also with our grandchildren and experience some culture, experience some food and hang out past 5:00,” Joel Buno, organizer and executive director of the Asian Institute Crane House, said.
Filipinos make up the third-largest Asian community city-wide. Saturday’s event hoped to introduce the public to the Filipino culture, including the unique food that is a fusion of cultures all on its own.
“I grew up eating Filipino food, so that’s cuisine close to my heart, and I just wanted our community to experience it, too,” Buno said. “We know about Chinese, Korean, Japanese, but I bet a lot of people have not sampled Filipino cuisine.”
Twelve vendors offered “easy, entry-level” food, local chefs offered food demonstrations and musicians and dancers showed off traditional music and dance. Local bars also served up cocktails made with Filipino flavors.
“It’s really awesome to have, it’s almost like Filipinos have a voice today, and this is probably the biggest Filipinos event we’ve had in Louisville, in Kentucky,” organizer Joi Lanctacoronel said. “So it’s so amazing to share that culture, have storytelling on stage, share our food and really just be in one space, so everyone can see what this culture is about.”
The free event was held from 4-8 p.m.
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