Filipinos join San Francisco Asian Festival Dyna Lopez INQUIRER.net
May 25, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—It’s 11 a.m. and people are already licking their fingers from eating kabobs of sweet Filipino barbecue chicken.
The tantalizing aromas from the Filipino, Hawaiian, and Vietnamese barbecue pits competed for the appetites of approximately 100,000 people who strolled through the Little Saigon neighborhood of San Francisco for the 5th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration (AHSC), according to event organizer Asian Week Foundation.
The Asian Week Foundation says it’s the largest event in California that serves and addresses the greater Asian Pacific American community—and it never stays put. Every year, AHSC changes its venue location to match the year’s theme. This year it was held in the Little Saigon neighborhood in honor of the Vietnamese community. Two years ago, AHSC paid tribute to the large Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood of the city.
And that’s a great way to invite people to an ethnic neighborhood that they would probably not bother to visit if not for the AHSC, said Al Perez, art director for AHSC and president of the Filipino American Arts Exposition.
“It really brings the spotlight on the different communities which have a lot of Asian populations. (For) people that live here in the Tenderloin (district), people may not have any reason to come here, but with the festival being here, it really brings the crowd here and people appreciate this neighborhood,” said Perez.
As far as the various vendors, sponsors, and entertainers who came to the free event, Perez says more Filipino small businesses participated this year.
“We made a big push to be more inclusive. I don’t know exactly (the numbers) but I would say at least, probably 50 percent more (Filipino businesses are here)”, said Perez.
Entertainers performed on two stages flanking both ends of the festival which stretched from the Asian Art Museum. Karaoke, karate, musical performances, and dance troupes such as the Likha (Pilipino Folk Ensemble) and Citizen School Tinikling Performance danced to the masses under the unusually hot 92-degree temperature.
The kick-boxing event dominated most of the afternoon and drew the largest and most vocal crowd to the main stage. More than 100 martial arts students from the San Francisco Bay Area exhibited their skills and various styles: karate, kung fu, mixed martial arts (MMA), san shou, muay thai, and jiu-jitsu.
Philippine Wrecking Machine Mark Munoz (6-1 MMA) appeared on stage and had his own booth. The 31-year-old Filipino American from Vallejo, California is getting ready for his next fight, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 102 on August 29 against Nick Catone (6-1 MMA).
The 2001 NCAA wrestling champion has been wrestling since he was 13.
“I’m training and working on my stand up and incorporating my wrestling with my muay thai and my boxing,” said Munoz, who’s also working on reducing his present weight of 215 to 185.
He hopes to follow the footsteps of another Filipino fighter, the popular boxing champ, Manny Pacquiao. Munoz has seen Pacman train at the Wild Boxing Club in Hollywood, and was impressed. “Just to see how he trains, it’s awesome. He’s an inspiration to us Filipinos. I want to represent just like what he’s doing. Hopefully I can be the Manny Pacquiao of Mixed Martial Arts,” Munoz beamed.
One block away, about 65 top-of- the-line J-Cars were on display. Popularized by parking lot social gatherings among young adults, J-Cars and European sports cars showed off their engines and wheels.
The free Hepatitis-B screenings attracted the longest line. In partnership with the City of San Francisco, the Department of Public Health, and Stanford University, it’s the largest one day screening of its kind for Hepatitis B, according to the Asian Week Foundation.
The AHSC is organized by the Asian Week Foundation in cooperation with over 150 local and Asian American community organizations. All proceeds from the event will be donated to local and national charities.
