The Filipino community in North Texas is preparing to celebrate something historic this weekend: the state’s largest Filipino festival.
He Palengke Lone Star – which means “market” in the Philippine Tagalog language – is expected to draw more than 10,000 people this Saturday at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie. The free event will take place from 12:00 to 18:00.
The festival aims to share the food, music, art, dances and experiences of Filipino culture with the DFW community. The event takes place in October in honor of Filipino American History Month.
“Lone Star Palengke is simply our ability to show who we are here as a people. We deserve a space,” said Mark Sampelo, co-founder of Filipino American Community Effort (PACE), the non-profit organization behind the event.
Organizers say the festival has grown enormously since it began three years ago. However, it is only part of an even larger mission in mind: opening a new Filipino community center in North Texas.
For Sampelo, that mission will be 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 something was missing. “My family, my family friends, had a unique culture that was a little different than American society.”
UN PLACE FOR ‘MOTHER’
According to PACE, North Texas is home to an estimated 100,000 Filipinos, but lacks a center dedicated to Filipino culture like other AAPI groups.
“There are many more Filipinos coming to the DFW Metroplex from California and Washington state. So when they come here, it’s normal that they have community,” said Conrad Alagaban, Jr., PACE finance president.
As Alagaban, Jr. and Sampelo became adults in the metroplex, each of them delved into their own stories and a growing pride in their culture. One that is exclusively Filipino-Texan.
“For me, it has been a search and a journey as I have grown up. In my adulthood, it has been searching for my history, understanding where our culture is and what it is about, and being able to find people who can share that knowledge. That is what we are doing together here for our Lone Star Palengke,” Alagaban, Jr. said.
After years of creating connections with other Filipino groups in the country, 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 that year’s festival helped turn the movement into its nonprofit organization, with the continuing mission of creating an official cultural center.
Representations by architect Manolo Depario of what the cultural center will be like.
“It is not just about empowering, inspiring and uplifting our community, but about uniting everyone through ‘kapwa’, which is our interconnection with each other. And that transcends our Filipino identity,” Sampelo said. “Although 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 location for many of the things PACE tries to offer year-round at separate events throughout DFW, such as Tagalog classes for children, cooking classes, health resources, voter registration, assistance with immigration procedures and much more.
“It’s just about laying the groundwork. Because that’s what I didn’t have. I didn’t know about my Filipino-American identity. It was difficult for me to adapt. And I don’t want my children to have that experience,” Sampelo said. “I want our children to be proud of who they are. “I want them to know that they can be whoever they want to be when they grow up.”
PACE hopes to take profits from the festival and other efforts and put them toward the goal of creating a Filipino hub in DFW in the coming years.
For the full Lone Star Palengke Festival schedule, click here.
