by Trisha Nocon
It was San Francisco's 15th Annual Fiesta Filipina last weekend, the Bay Area's largest gathering of Filipinos to celebrate Philippine Independence Day. Guests enjoyed the cool sunny weather with their families and friends amidst a plethora of vendors, food, and live entertainment. This year's lineup included appearances by GMA TV's Richard Gomez, Lucy Torres-Gomez, and Heart Evangelista. But the highlights of the weekend were the flawless R&B vocals of Rin on the Rox and Drop N Harmony.
Rin on the Rox performed a female R&B medley that included their fans' favorites such as "HALO" by Beyonce, "I HATE THIS PART" by the Pussycat Dolls (PCD), "TAKE A BOW" by Rihanna, "DEPARTED" by Brandy, "ENERGY" by Keri Hilson, "LOVE" by Keyshia Cole, and of course "IF I WERE A BOY" by Beyonce. They even surprised the audience with an OPM classic, "BAKIT PA" and their own original single, "TORTURE" now available on iTunes.
Drop N Harmony performed all of their own originals including "ANYTHING", "NEVER NO NEVER", "SAY THAT YOU DON'T CARE", and of course their most popular single, "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU". Their vocals didn't miss a beat and they looked well-kept and clean in white.
There was a noticeably lower turnout in both the amount of vendors and guests that participated this year. One can hypothesize that the economy may be impacting the quality of Philippine festivals. It was just not as lively as in year's past. Nonetheless, it was still a great time to relax and unwind for those who attended.
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By bernard on June 23, 2009 - 7:31pm
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Comments
this year at Siesta Filipina??? First of all, what was the point of calling it a "donation" of $10 for admission. did anyone actually get in for free?
There was nothing spectacular about the vendors and it seemed like there were too many graphic Tshirt vendors. Just seemed like tired typical graphic tshirts to me, none of them stood out. hopefully there will be more fashion forward vendors next time, sorry... really, there's more to sell than just graphic tee's!
whatever happened to the vendors with the latest Filipino music and/or movies?! Haha
At least the food lines weren't too long.
At one point the nudist bicyclists making a stop in front of the civic center stole the show, which honestly did seem more entertaining than was going on the actual stage... my friend recalls one spectator saying, "grabe, i think they're a gay" hahahah
I didn't hate the line up of guests stars this year, but honestly they didn't make much of an impact in the mainstream leading up to Fiesta Filipina that all I could say about them is eh. I mean there was a huge turnout for Charice last year cause look how big she blew up on YouTube, and then her appearances on Ellen and Oprah!
maybe the organizers of this years event can take this as a learning experience and provide a better fiesta filipina next year. but hey, we still have Pistahan to always look forward to in August.
Hi,
i can understand your disappointement about fashion forward vendors selling graphic tees. there is a company that designs pretty unique graphic tees that promotes filipino heritage based here on the east coast. you can check out the site at www.fliptees-usa.com.
i don't know if you've heard about it.