Fiesta Filipino, Calgary’s premiere festival celebrating the art, culture, food, and music of the Philippines, is holding a bit of a bittersweet farewell for Olympic Plaza over the September long weekend.

The festival, which began on Aug. 30, and is itself celebrating 10 years at the park, is the final festival to be held at the current Olympic Plaza before it is shut down for construction as part of the Arts Commons area redevelopment plan.

That said, this year’s event is set to be a bigger, better, and louder occasion as a culmination of the work that the Philippine Festival Council of Alberta (PFCA) has done to promote Filpino culture through Fiesta Filipino.

“It’s a decade of fiestas over the years, and it’s the culmination of basically everything that we’ve gone through, everything that we’ve put together, and just bringing that community together over the 10 years,” said PFCA board member Michael Juarez.

“What’s actually quite different this year is, in the past, we’ve always had one main headliner that has come for either the Saturday night or the Sunday afternoon. It’s a bit more star-studded over the three days, we actually have a headliner performing for each day of the festival this year. We’ve also done our best to try to hit the different generations.”

Filipino-Canadian singer and actor ️Darren Espanto, chart topping Filipino boy band BGYO, and headliner from award-winning ’80s rock band the Dawn, Jett Pangan, are all headlining the festival for 2024.

Returning elements that have been fan favourites over the decade, such as the food walk and mainstreet market, are also back this year.

“We have some food vendors who are visiting us all the way from Kelowna, some from up in Edmonton. So we’re really bringing a lot of those elements all together. And then we’ve got different types of vendors who are selling different things, from jewelries to cosmetics to clothing,” said Juarez.

Also returning for 2024, after a successful run in 2023, is the playcium from the PFCA’s youth empowerment program which aims to let visitors try Filipino games.

The overall goal, said Juarez, is to share the culture and impact of the Filipino community not just in Calgary, but across Alberta and in Canada.

“The Filipino story, a lot of times, is an immigrant story. A lot of times, the first generations have sacrificed so much to be here… or even the 1.5 generations like we like to call it, the ones who were born in the Philippines, but then came here at a really young age. They grew up in Canada, and have all the customs of the Canadians, however, they’re still at heart wanting to know their culture a bit more,” Juarez said.

“That’s why it’s so important that we have festivals like this that really showcase and bring the community together.”

He said that for Calgarians who haven’t yet experienced a Filipino festival, it’s the original fusion of cultures.

“When it comes to food, I always say that Filipino food is the original fusion food, before fusion food was actually a thing because of the fact that where Philippines is located in Southeast Asia, it’s almost like the hub. Most countries have to go through the Philippines to either get to Southeast Asia or to get out of Southeast Asia,” Juarez said.

“The Philippines is proud to have one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world, over 150 years old. Each region of the Philippines is very different as far as tastes go, food goes, even cultures go. Even though majority of the Philippines is 90 per cent Catholic faith, we also have people also follow different religions and also identify as Muslims as well. So there’s basically almost anything and everything for every type of person.”

That diversity comes out in the cheerful disposition of most Filipinos, and their desire to do things well, said Juarez.

“The word that we share is the word called bayanihan, which is just the spirit of being resilient, being able to rise up.”

Attendance to Fiesta Filipino is free, although VIP packages are available for people wanting to get closer to the main stage and to meet the headliners for an exclusive photo session.

Those tickets are still available, and can be purchased at www.eventbrite.ca/e/f2x-exclusive-access-tickets-991699619257.