In the past four Filipino Fiesta events on Oahu, APO Hawaii has drawn the community's admiration for its artistry and creativity particularly as it comes to putting up a cultural booth. The Filipino Fiesta is the biggest Filipino gathering on the island. 

 

This year, APO Hawaii featured "INAPOY" highlighting the various ways rice -- the Filipino staple -- is prepared or cooked. To most Filipinos, a meal is not complete without rice. And yes, the lugaw, arroz caldo, goto, and champorado are excellent substitutes for the usual steamed rice. And of course, we have not forgotten the rice coffee . . . and yes, the tapuey of the Cordillera.

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The focus of this year's effort was the building of the booth's facade -- a giant replication of the traditional Filipino earthen pot used before the era of the rice cooker. The collaborative work was itself a vehicle for cooperation, creativity, artistry, imagination, and certainly camaraderie. As the APO Toast Song goes, it was a "daily working, daily striving" effort. And it paid! Walang katumbas. 

 

Most especially, our Filipino Fiesta annual participation provides an opportunity to foster fraternal relations and cooperation, hone creativity, as well as encourage and foster leadership across the membership.