Pinoys hold successful fiesta in Virginia

More than a celebration of sights and sounds, rich cultural heritage, beautiful and elegant traditional attires and colorful dances, there is a story behind the event in Richmond, Virginia that needs to be told. The story unfolded of how a community leader thought outside the box, anchored his leadership on sound, game-changing propositions and pulled everyone together to come up with the a very successful event of the very first Filipino fiesta in Richmond, Virginia held last April 27, 2013.

Very impressed with the organization of the fiesta, I asked the chairperson Rumy Mohta if there were any challenges along the way. Having been in the States for decades, I am quite familiar with the story of bickering among organizations during the process of coming up of an event, and more often than not the conflict lies in money management. Rumy Mohta challenged these situations, by accepting being chair of the event on two conditions, one that he and the group will be very inclusive in getting everyone together and two, that any profits will go to charity, no money will be kept. Mr. Mohta was able to have the whole event funded by soliciting from his connections. And having an event on such a grand scale speaks volumes of his reputation and leadership. Have it not been Rumy Mohta, being the chair, many people have doubted if everyone would have been willing to come together to organize the event. Mr. Mohta said from day one, he insisted on open-book accounting of the funds they have received and spent.

I drove about an hour and a half from Alexandria to Richmond, Virginia. Marj, Rumy's wife, sent me the address of the convention center and a copy of the program the night before.

The program was a wide variety of Filipino cultural songs and dances, mixed with fashion shows, a magician, and booth presentations. When I arrived, it was quite a long walk from the entrance of the Richmond Convention Center to the exhibit hall where the event was taking place, and was expecting some door fee. I really did not know what to expect but I thought it might be something fancy because they had a very glossy, colorful invitation flier online. I thought, maybe I could get away with the usual fees here and there, by saying I am a guest of Marj and Rumy Mohta. Very nice, I thought to myself.

When I came in, I saw a table by the door and the entrance was free. I asked for Rumy and Marj, and meet Rumy who was standing by the door. Very friendly gentleman, dressed in a colorful yellow barong, I mentioned I came all the way from Alexandria. He welcomed me, shook my hand, said that his wife must be somewhere in the place, and directed me to the stage and the people I wanted to meet.

“Woohoo!!!” Cat calls, smiles, laughter, taunting, camera flashes, all characterized the relaxed but now excited captive audience with each performance. I positioned myself where I can take the best pictures, at the same time mindful of the human interest glimpses of people in the audience. The performers did a very nice rendition of cultural dances such as the singkil, tinikling, maglalatik, Igorot dance and so many other colorful array of presentations like the santacruzan fashion show, magicians, validated with a short visit of political figures.

Attorney General Ken Cucinelli, who is running for Governor of Virginia gave a brief speech asking support of his candidacy from the Filipino community. US Congressman Bobby Scott, proudly informed the crowd that he is part Filipino and Virginia State Representative Betsy Carr gave a brief congratulatory speech to everyone. Rumy Mohta was on stage with Filipino food, other than entertainment, was one of the things that both Filipinos and their part American families, enjoyed. There were pretty creative booths, too representing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The festival itself, from the program, included performers from the large Filipino congregation of Virginia Beach, a large town a number of hours away from Richmond. I was told that there were other visitors who drove hours from Maryland and Northern Virginia to witness the event.

It was indeed a fiesta, but not just of creativity, delicious food, feast of sights and sounds. It was a successful fiesta brought about by fresh ideas, inclusiveness, accountability, camaraderie and support, all pulling in together, a highly visible and palpable example of sound leadership that made such a grand scale event a success. From Rumy Mohta himself, “Everyone in the community was a star that day.”