Filipino pride glows at San Francisco’s 24th Pistahan parade-festival

WATCH: San Francisco’s 24th Pistahan Parade and Festival. INQUIRER/Vic Valbuena Bareng

SAN FRANCISCO – Under overcast skies the 24^th Pistahan weekend started with the traditional parade on Market Street, from City Hall to the Yerba Buena Gardens site of the festival.

A short program led by Parade director John Espiritu and Filipino American Arts Exposition (FAAE) President Al Perez introduced this year’s Hermano and Hermana Mayor Philippine San Francisco Deputy Consul-General (DCG) Jaime Ramon Ascalon and wife, Cecile, Parade Grand Marshall San Mateo County 5^th district Supervisor David Canepa, among other dignitaries. Ascalon and his wife will be leaving San Francisco in a few months for another assignment.

Dance Collective and Kulintang Academy from Little Manila, Stockton. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Everyone later joined marching high school bands, a giant Philippine flag, a megadance contingent, Star Wars storm troopers led by Darth Vader, a real jeepney, local business contingents, various local and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel (TFC) celebrities led by Sam Milby and Iñigo Pascual. Pistahan supporters, fans of celebrities and mere onlookers cheered color-themed floats.

Parade Grand Marshall David Canepa was excited “to see the energy, to feel and see the spirit and to see the celebration of the Filipino culture.”

Another non-Filipino who is always present at Pistahans was newly termed-out San Francisco State Senator Mark Leno. “Pistahan is always a great party. It is a celebration of the Filipino community, which is among the foundation stones of our great diversity in San Francisco,” Leno said.

Former U.S. Navy Steve Bellcamp and his Filipina wife, Leticia, drove their Filipino jeepney all the way from the Olympic Peninsula Port Angeles in Washington. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN) organizational director Angelica Cabande said Pistahan is an opportunity “to show our pride and also the different things that we do here as long time residents of San Francisco.”

Filipino American Arts Exposition President Al Perez is very thankful for all the hard work of all the volunteers of Pistahan calling them the event’s true backbone. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“We are here to continue on this path and even make it bigger one day. We are learning more about our culture,” Sheila de Leon of California State University of East Bay promised, speaking for the youth in the parade,

Rudy Corpuz, executive director United Playaz, a youth violence prevention program said his group joins Pistahan to show that “our culture and our people, that we are somebody.”

Coming all the way from Stockton, California, the Little Manila Dance Collective and Kulintang Academy danced along the parade route for third appearance in Pistahan, with little kids joining their older counterparts.

Radio personality Freska Griarte hosted Pistahan 2017 stage entertainment. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Former U.S. Navy serviceman Steve Bellcamp came with his Filipina wife from Zambales, Leticia, driving their Filipino jeepney all the way from the Olympic Peninsula Port Angeles in Washington. “This jeepney is about three years old now and we built it from scratch,” Bellcamp said.

Easily the most anticipated float was that of the ABS-CBN TFC bearing their main attraction for this year Sam Milby and Iñigo Pascual, also the main crowd drawers on the Sunday afternoon festival.

Hydra Mendoza, chief of staff for education and equity, represented San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at the festival. Freska Griarte, a very popular Filipina American 96.5 KOIT voice, emceed the entertainment program.

Non-stop music, culture and dance entertained the crowd at the Yerba Buena Gardens Pistahan Festival. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

For organizer Perez, Pistahan is still “maturing, learning the ropes, because nobody really taught us how to do this.” He disclosed that planning for the Pistahan starts as early as January.

Perez explained that the neighborhood where the Yerba Buena and Moscone Center now stand used to be all-Filipino low-income housing 25 years ago, so holding Pistahan at Yerba Buena was a way of honoring and “reclaiming” what used to be a Filipino neighborhood.

University students are led by Sheila de Leon of California State University of East Bay (seventh from left, almost kneeling). INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“To make room for the Moscone Convention Center and this beautiful Yerba Buena Art Garden with these beautiful museums, they had to displace 4,000 Filipino families,” Perez reminisced. “And the reason why it is in August, is because the I-Hotel (International Hotel) August was lost on August 4. So when the organizers of the Pistahan was coming up with a date, they thought we lost something really big on August 4, now we have this opportunity to reclaim something back in the second week of August through the Pistahan. So, Pistahan is really unique because it is linked the displacement of Filipinos in South of Market, it is tied with the history of San Francisco and FilipinoAmericans here.”