Rain or shine, the 4th annual Manitoba Filipino Street Festival will be parading down McPhillips after winning an appeal to continue down the busy street.
Directors from the Manitoba Filipino Street Festival presented thier case to the Standing Policy Committee On Infrastructure Renewal and Public Works on June 23rd. The City originally approved a new parade route along Leila from McGregor to Garden City Shopping Centre. Ley Navarro, Councillor Mike Pagtakhan, Councillor Scott Gillingham (message read by Mike Pagtakhan), Aida Champagne and Ron Cantiveros eloquently talked about the merits of our festival that draws people as far east and west of Manitoba.
Janice Lukes, committee chair, who even after voting no to our appeal was so intrigue by their presentation, that she promised to bring her family to this year’s festival. Dennis Castaneda and Peter Estrada clearly presented that our priority for the parade is the security and well being of all participants and the crowd. Peter Estrada made it clear that we do have a plan, in case of an emergency.
The Winnipeg Police Service, Fire Deptartment, Paramedics and Public Works representatives presented their reasons for denying the original application to use McPhillips as the parade route.
Committee members voting in favour of the appeal were Councillors Devi Sharma, Cindy Gilroy and Shawn Dobson. Citing safety concerns, Janice Lukes, Councillor for St. Norbert and committee chair cast the only vote against the appeal. In a 3-1 vote in favour, the 4th Annual Manitoba Filipino Street Festival parade will run on McPhillips from Northgate Shopping Mall to the festival site at Garden City Shopping Centre.
