{"id":893413,"date":"2026-09-12T20:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/893413\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T20:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:56:12","slug":"jericho-rosales-martin-nievera-headline-philippine-festival-mississauga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/893413\/","title":{"rendered":"Jericho Rosales, Martin Nievera headline Philippine Festival Mississauga"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Filipino music, food, performances and community activities will take over Mississauga Celebration Square from Sept. 11 to 13 as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.philfestsauga.ca\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philippine Festival Mississauga<\/a>\u00a0celebrates its 15th year with a three-day festival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mabuhaycanada.org\/philfest-mississauga-pops-fernandez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">free festival<\/a>\u00a0returns for its third year as a September summer sendoff and its second year running for three days, with each day featuring a different theme and lineup of activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rosary Escano, program, marketing and experiences lead for PhilFest Mississauga, said the festival has expanded significantly since it began, both in attendance and in the experiences offered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has grown so much. Last year it was approximately 70,000 attendees in three days, but it has also grown through activities, programming and immersive experiences,\u201d Escano said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The celebration begins Friday with \u201cEuphoria at the Square: A Night of Colour and Sound,\u201d a party-themed evening featuring DJs, heritage beats, drag performers and Filipino actor Jericho Rosales as the headliner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friday will also include a movie night at the amphitheatre and an acoustic night at the festival\u2019s Ube Cafe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saturday shifts the focus to \u201cHeritage &amp; Harmony: Connecting Traditions and Trends,\u201d which will bring traditional Filipino culture together with contemporary performances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program will feature emerging vocalists, bands and dancers, with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/acoyamusic\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Acoya<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tinostar.official\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tinostar<\/a>\u00a0and Filipino American singer-songwriter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ajrafael\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AJ Rafael<\/a>\u00a0among the headliners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.philfestsauga.ca\/pawfestsauga\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PawFest Sauga<\/a>\u00a0will also return Saturday with activities and contests for pets and their owners.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"510\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3645ba_98b90b70e84b41929dec295b842c6b33mv2-1024x510.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-94446\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2.007843137254902;width:1024px;height:auto\"  \/>Scenes from previous editions of PhilFest Mississauga showcase cultural performances, live entertainment and community activities at Mississauga Celebration Square. Photo courtesy of PhilFest Mississauga<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The festival closes Sunday with \u201cCelebrating Community: Honouring Traditions, Inspiring Futures,\u201d a family-oriented day featuring traditional dances, community performances and activities designed to encourage audience participation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Filipino singers\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/martinnievera\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Nievera<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/klarissedguzman\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Klarisse De Guzman<\/a>\u00a0will headline the final day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Organizers are also introducing several new experiences across Celebration Square this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tuloy Canada Fair will offer a community-driven expo focused on Filipino heritage and life in Canada, while Filipino Literary Voices will allow Filipino authors to share their stories and books with festivalgoers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another addition is the Ube Cafe, an outdoor space combining Filipino-inspired treats, live music and storytelling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sports will also be part of the weekend through interactive stations hosted by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/philippinesbaseball_canada\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philippine Baseball Group Canada<\/a>, where children and adults can participate in hands-on baseball activities and coaching.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Escano said the festival will also feature new games and on-site activations while continuing its cultural installations for a third year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For younger visitors, Kids Village will offer face painting, storytelling, arts and crafts and other activities throughout the festival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Celebration Square amphitheatre will provide an alternative to the main stage programming with open mic sessions, bingo, Zumba, dance tutorials and Friday\u2019s outdoor movie night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Together, the activities are designed to make the festival more than a series of performances, giving visitors different ways to experience Filipino culture throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Escano, bringing those experiences to one of Mississauga\u2019s most prominent public gathering spaces is also an opportunity to share Filipino culture beyond the community itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The goal, she said, is \u201cfor Filipinos to embrace and celebrate their culture to the rest of Canada and for non-Filipinos to get to know more about us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filipino music, food, performances and community activities will take over Mississauga Celebration Square from Sept. 11 to 13&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-893413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}