Piyesta Pinoy sa Bolingbrook attracts record crowds First-ever west suburban Philippine festival a history maker!

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. –”Official attendance reported by Bolingbrook Event Production estimated the crowd at about 4,500 which could have been a lot higher if not for the storm that moved into the area at around 6 p.m.” wrote Philippine American Cultural Foundation (PACF) cultural director and Piyesta Pinoy committee chair Ruben Salazar in an e-mail to this newspaper about the first-ever Piyesta Pinoy sa Bolingbrook, held Saturday, June 21, 2014. Festivities marked Philippine Independence Day on June 12 and began 11 a.m. at the sprawling suburban complex, also headquarters to the Bolingbrook Police Department and the mayor’s office. Celebrations lasted all day until 11 p.m., with a Parade of Costumes, a hip hop dance competition, ccultural dance and workshops, acoustic sets, and a celebrity flown in from the Philippines (popular TV & movie star Dingdong Dantes) courtesy of media sponsor GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV. A colorful Parade of Costumes opened the celebration, featuring Miss Philippine Independence PWC 2014 Rachel Rinion, Miss Luzon PWC 2014 Angela Salonga, Mrs. Philippines PIWC 2014 Yoly Zoleta, festival Hermanos and Hermanas Mr. and Mrs. Alex Cirera, Veronica Leighton, Joe Mauricio and Ronald McDonald greeting children and families on the audience. Festival organizers would like to thank organizing sponsors Philippine American Cultural Foundation in partnership with the Philippine Consulate and the Village of Bolingbrook; Platinum Sponsors GMAPinoy TV and GMA Life TV, Signature Event Designs, Three Horses Rice; Gold Sponsor Xfinity; Silver Sponsors Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital and Chick Fill-A; Bronze Sponsors Billeon Financial Group, Creative Imprints Plus and Creative Impressions Plus, Madrid Crost Law Group, Max Madsen Mitsubishi, the Philippine Department of Tourism and Unimart, Media sposors Bolingbrook Bugle, CPRTV and Via Times, Hataw Pinoy & Filipino American Community Builder, Megascenes, One Philippines and Pinoy News.

Bolingbrook Piyesta Pinoy Hermanos & Hermanas, L-R: George & Marge Boerema, Tom Rivera, Veronica, Jean Rivera, PIWC Mrs. Philippines Yoly Zoleta, Deputy ConGen Jun Israel, Alex Cirera, Ben Zoleta and Joe Mauricio.