The organizers of this year’s Pinoy Festival have a message: “Let’s turn grief into grace, and pain into purpose.” The free annual event will take place from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday (June 14) at Swangard Stadium (6100 Boundary Road) in Burnaby.
It’s the largest local Filipino Heritage Month Celebration in B.C. The Pinoy Festival will come two days after National Day in the Philippines commemorating the declaration of independence from Spain in 1898. But weighing on everyone’s mind is that this event will also take place less than two months after a senseless attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party in Vancouver. A motorist accelerated through a crowd on April 26, killing eleven people and injuring dozens of others.
Hence the slogan for this year’s Pinoy Festival: We Rise.
One of the highlights is the Pinoy Festival Street Dance Parade, which showcases the community’s diversity. The Philippines is comprised of more than 7,000 islands and it’s home to 130 to 195 languages (depending on the classification method).
The diversity of the community is also reflected in the festival’s cultural performances and traditional dances, embracing traditions from Cordillera in northern Luzon to the large island of Mindanao in the south.
There will also be an opportunity to bust some Pinoy Zumba moves and sweat off the calories from Filipino street food at the event. Register for Hataw Zumbayanan on the Pinoy Festival website.
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