International Village: Filipino performers return to stage after 18 months away

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

The festival grounds were packed Thursday as McKeesport’s 61st installment of International Village came to a close.

For three days, people from the McKeesport area and beyond converged upon Stephen Barry Field and the Andrew J. Jakomas Blue Top Pavilion at Renziehausen Park for the festival, which is dedicated to showcasing the foods, songs and dances of area ethnic churches and organizations.

Thousands rushed to Renzie Park Thursday night to make sure they could fill up on their favorite global fare before heavy thunderstorms set in and the festival wrapped up for the year.

It was humid for the Village’s final day of the year — and until dark clouds rolled in about an hour before the Village was due to close — the sun shined brightly upon the festival.

The crowds didn’t let the heat bother them as they waited to chow down. There were long lines all the way around the field from the Greek booth to the French booth, and the Croatian booth got so busy that it sold out of a majority of its menu items.

The situation was no different at the food booth operated by the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh.

Guests at that booth enjoyed refreshing, thirst-quenching melon juice, also known as cantaloupe juice, and items like egg rolls, pancit (stir fried noodles), chicken on a stick, turon (bananas wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and deep-fried) and more.

But the volunteers of the FAAP didn’t just show off their culture and traditions via cuisine.

The FAAP Dance Troupe was the only dance/performance group to take the main stage Thursday, and some of the dancers said they were proud and excited to be there for a special reason.

Irna de Leon-Knapp said the group hasn’t taken the stage in more than 18 months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Their first performance since the onset of COVID-19 was Thursday.

“It’s hard to get the cast because some can’t make it,” she said. “We weren’t sure if this was even going to happen because of the increased surge of COVID and the delta variant, but no one’s canceled anything, all of us have been vaccinated, so that helps.”

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