Filipinos hold first-ever Saskatchewan Filipino music and food fest

Emcee welcomes Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Festival goers. SCREENSHOT

Residents of Saskatoon, Canada heard and tasted Filipino culture at the first-ever Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Street Festival last weekend, Aug. 7-8, near City Hall in downtown Saskatoon.

Dishes like lechon (roasted pig), pork barbecue, lumpia (spring roll) and pancit (stir-fried noodles) drew enthusiastic grazers.

Lines form for Filipino food at Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Festival. SCREENSHOT

Filipino food vendors and musicians came from all over Saskatchewan province, where the Filipino population is growing rapidly.

Statistics Canada 2016 data shows there are 32,340 Filipinos living in the province. And Tagalog is the second most spoken language, after English. The population of Filipinos in Saskatchewan has doubled since 2011.

Work is the main reason Filipinos have been settling in Saskatchewan, where a large number of them work in health care, the food service industry and the manufacturing sector.