THUNDER BAY — One week after a deadly attack at a Filipino Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver, the Filipino community in Thunder Bay welcomed city residents to a celebration of food and culture.
The Filipino-Canadian Association of Thunder Bay hosted its first ever Filipino Food Festival on Saturday at the Oliver Road Community Centre.
The community centre was crowded all day as people lined up to try Filipino barbecue pork, the national dish of adobo, street foods like kwek kwek (deep fried quail eggs) and desserts like halo halo (shaved ice served with a wide variety of sweet treats).
“Philippines is a series of islands, but they're so diverse with food,” said Reuben Villagracia, president of the Filipino-Canadian Association of Thunder Bay.
“Canada has become so diverse in the last couple of years. The Filipino community has been booming here in Thunder Bay.
“It's really just grown so it's a chance, yes, obviously we'll have our own Filipinos come here and shop and help us out, but we also want to welcome the community. Maybe this is the start of something,” he said.
The loss of life in Vancouver was noted with a prayer before the first cultural demonstration of the event, tinkling, a traditional folk dance.
“It was very sad," said Villagracia of the vehicle-ramming that left 11 people dead and dozens injured. "We heard it . . . happened late night on the Saturday. We had a board meeting, our last board meeting before this event, and just our hearts and prayers go out to them."
The association previously had a booth at Thunder Bay’s Folklore Festival, but with the event cancelled for this year, members of the association still wanted to represent the Philippines.
“The difference is, from our regular Folklore Festival booth, it's a more variety of Filipino food. These are all our members, they have separate booths, and they're selling different foods from the areas of the Philippines,” said Villagracia.
"We figured, let's do something a little different and let's expand our menu.”
The Filipino-Canadian Association of Thunder Bay has been around since 1982, Villagracia said.
Villagracia hopes for the return of the Folklore Festival in 2026. He added that it was an important fundraiser for the group.
