AN all-day festival in Carson featuring non-stop cultural and patriotic performances and various entertainments for the entire family will mark the 124th anniversary of Philippine Independence Day.
The event will take place on Saturday, June 4, from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Veterans Park, located at 22400 Moneta Avenue in Carson. The celebration is open to the public and admission is free.
Non-stop entertainment will begin at 10 a.m. featuring big names in Filipino pop music, homegrown talents and various cultural performers. Food and display booths are also lined up for the day’s activities.
Topping the list of this year’s guests is multi-award singer and actress, Rachel Alejandro. Rachel had several hit songs that include Mr. Kupido, Paalam Na, Bulag Sa Katotohanan, and Nakapagtataka to name a few. Rachel has also enjoyed success as an actress, appearing in films and theater productions. In 2018, she starred in the Philippine-Australian jukebox musical “All Out of Love: The Musical,” which is based on the songs of Air Supply. Rachel subsequently portrayed Aurora Quezon in the 2019 film “Quezon’s Game” which garnered her several best actress awards. She currently stars in her first teleserye called “The Broken Marriage Vow.” A parade of reigning beauty queens representing various regions from the Philippines will cap the celebration.
In the City of Carson, which is home to the largest concentration of Filipinos outside of the Philippines, the celebration of Philippine Independence Day is a yearly festival that draws thousands of Filipinos and non-Filipinos of all ages from all over Southern California. It is a commemoration of the birth of the Philippine republic after over 400 years of Spanish rule. This is the premiere Filipino event in the United States.
“Philippine Independence Day has been celebrated in the City of Carson since 1986, making it the largest and longest running Filipino event in a city that has about 20% of our roughly 100,000 population being of Filipino descent. We’re excited that after 2 years of having to celebrate virtually due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we’re once again able to have some sense of normalcy and celebrate together as a CommUNITY,” said President of the Philippine Independence Day Foundation, Fred Docdocil.
“On behalf of the citizens of the great City of Carson, I extend my sincerest appreciation to the Philippine Independence Day Foundation for their exceptional dedication in ensuring a successful event each year to celebrate this important historical occasion. It is truly a delight to see the diversity of Carson celebrated through cultural events such as this. Thank you for giving the community the opportunity to see and experience the richness of Philippine history and culture, and for making a wonderful contribution to the ethnic diversity that makes Carson great,” said Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes.
The annual celebration is a joint undertaking of the City of Carson and the Philippine Independence Day Foundation. For more information about the event, please contact Veterans Park at (310) 830-9991.
