Barrio Fiesta starts two-day run downtown
By Rhashad Pittman
The Record - Aug 14, 2005
STOCKTON — Volunteers for the Little Manila Foundation gathered Saturday morning to paint and clean the Iloilo Circle building, home to one of the oldest Filipino-American organizations in the country.
The gathering was the first of two celebrations of Filipino culture Saturday. Elsewhere in town, the 33rd annual Barrio Fiesta kicked off at the Filipino Plaza at the corner of Market and Center streets.
Dillon Delvo, executive director of the Little Manila Foundation, said the cleanup was part of the group’s efforts to restore and preserve the Little Manilla neighborhood, which was established in the 1920s by Filipino immigrants. The eight-block area sits south of the Crosstown Freeway between El Dorado and California streets.
“This painting today is just a small gesture of what we need to do in this area,” Delvo said. “We have to save our history, because it’s not just Filipino-American history, it’s American history.”
The Iloilo building, at 128 E. Sonora St., was a central part of the Filipino community in Stockton during the 1950s and 1960s. The Iloilo Circle organization bought the small, white brick structure in 1956.
On Saturday, nearly 50 volunteers armed with paint rollers and brushes applied a fresh coat of white paint to the building. Other volunteers pulled up weeds along the sidewalk.
Little Manila Foundation board member Jessica Hernandez said her father frequently visited the building as a young man. She said she felt compelled to volunteer to honor the sacrifices he made as a farm laborer.
“I have a lot of respect for the pioneer generation,” Hernandez said. “I thought it was a beautiful way to show respect for the efforts they put forward.”
Mayor Ed Chavez applied a roll of paint on the building and said it had historical significance for the entire Stockton community.
“I think it’s very encouraging that we have the community coming out to restore this building,” Chavez said. “It makes a statement about who they are and what they want to do.”
Two hours after the painting started, the fun began at the Barrio Fiesta. The two-day event, expected to draw 4,000 to 5,000 people, featured numerous booths, music performances and a martial arts demonstration.
Rita Alfiche came with her two daughters and a sister and niece. The 31-year-old Stockton resident said she enjoys the Filipino foods offered, including pancit, pork adobo and halo halo.
“We come every year, mostly for the food,” she said.
The fiesta is sponsored by the Associated Filipino Organizations. The group started the event as a way to celebrate construction of the Filipino Center, the plaza’s 10-story housing complex, said Doris Unsod, association president.
The center, built in 1972, houses Filipino-Americans and others displaced from the Little Manila neighborhood after the Crosstown Freeway and other redevelopment projects took place in the 1960s and early ’70s.
Stockton resident Eileen Ramirez, 60, said she and others of her 1962 class at Edison High School used to have a booth at the fiesta each year to raise money. Now the grandmother of three is just a spectator at the event, but she said it still feels like a reunion because she frequently sees old friends.
“A lot of the older Filipinos come here to congregate,” she said. “I look forward to it.”
