By Samuel Peralta
This month in Hawai’i we are celebrating Filipino American History Month. It is an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of Filipino-Americans in Hawai’i. On October 21, 2017 at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce along side with University of Hawaii’s Filipino Club (Kabatak Club) and many other vendors celebrated another year called “Maui Fil-Am Heritage Festival”.
Parol Making Contest: Prizes included $250 for 1st, $150 for 2nd, and $75 for 3rd place winers.
It was a full day packed with exciting and entertaining events such as “Master P-Noy Chef Cook Off”, “Speedy Balut Eating Contest”, and “Any Kine Adobo Contest” just to name a few. Our UHMC and Baldwin High School Kabatak Clubs were facilitators in the parol (a traditional Christmas ornament) making station.
Joseph Panganiban creating traditional Filipino script called “Baybayin”
We had 50 parols made which will be displayed at Vidad’s in the upstairs food court at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Mall.
There were many prizes given throughout the day which totaled close to $2,500 in cash money, and four roundtrip tickets to Manila sponsored by Philippine Airlines. There were also many Filipino restaurant vendors serving incredible local dishes including “halo halo”, “pansit”, and “adobo”.
One of the highlights was council member Don Guzman walk around with the ice candy cart with our UHMC Kabatak members greeting the community.
The whole day had a warm family feel to the atmosphere. Everyone got to experience the community of Maui come to support Filipino American History Month and help encourage and empower our Filipino community here on Maui. Thank you for all who made this day possible. Agyamanak Maui!
Editor note: Samuel Peralta was a volunteer for the Fil-Am Festival at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center.
