The Filipino community in North Texas is getting ready to celebrate something historic this weekend – the largest Filipino festival in the state.
The Lone Star Palengke – which means ‘market’ in the Tagalog language of the Philippines – is expected to draw in more than 10,000 people this Saturday at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie. The free event runs from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The festival aims to share the food, music, art, dances, and experiences of the Filipino culture with the DFW community. The event takes place in October in honor of Filipino American History Month.
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"Lone Star Palengke is just our ability just to showcase who we are here as a people. We are deserving of a space,” said Mark Sampelo, co-founder of Pilipino American Community Endeavor (PACE), the nonprofit behind the event.
Organizers say the festival has grown tremendously since it started three years ago. However, it’s just one piece of an even bigger mission in mind – to open a new Filipino community center in North Texas.
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For Sampelo, that mission is a long time coming as a first-generation Filipino American.
"I've actually been in DFW for over 20 years. And DFW has always been my home. I grew up watching the Mavs, the Cowboys," he shared with NBC 5. "But growing up, I knew there was something missing. My family, my family friends, they had a unique culture that was a little different than American society."
A PLACE FOR ‘KAPWA’
According to PACE, North Texas is home to an estimated 100,000 Filipinos but lacks a dedicated center for the Filipino culture like other AAPI groups.
“There's a lot more Filipinos coming into the DFW Metroplex from California and Washington state. So as they're coming here, it's normal for them to have community,” said Conrad Alagaban, Jr., finance chair for PACE.
As Alagaban, Jr. and Sampelo grew into adults in the metroplex, they each dug deeper into their own histories and a growing pride in their culture. One that is uniquely Filipino Texan.
"For me, it's been a search and a journey as I grew up. In my adult years, it's been looking for my history, understanding where our culture is and what it's about, and being able to find people that can share that knowledge. So that's what we're doing together here for our Lone Star Palengke,” said Alagaban, Jr.
After years of creating connections with other Filipino groups in the nation, as well as Filipino-owned businesses and new transplants to DFW, Sampelo co-founded the first Lone Star Palengke event in 2021.
The overwhelming response to the festival that year helped turn the movement into their nonprofit, with the continued mission of creating an official cultural center.
"It's not just to empower, inspire and uplift our community but bringing everyone together through 'kapwa' which is our interconnectedness with one another. And that transcends our Filipino identity," said Sampelo. "While we don't have a physical building yet, we want to imagine what it would feel like."
Sampelo said the cultural center can be a permanent place for many of the things PACE tries to bring year-round in separate events across DFW -- such as Tagalog classes for children, cooking classes, health resources, voter registration, immigration paperwork assistance, and much more.
"It's just preparing the foundation. Because that's what I didn't have. I didn't know about my Filipino-American identity. I struggled fitting in. And I don't want my kids to have that experience," said Sampelo. "I want our kids to be proud of who they are. I want them to know that they can grow up to be whoever they want to be."
PACE hopes to take proceeds from the festival and other endeavors and put it toward that goal of creating a DFW Filipino center in the years to come.
For a full schedule of the Lone Star Palengke Festival, click here.
