Filipino Americans launch successful 1st Little Manila parade and party in Queens
By Marivir R. Montebon
Woodside - History has been made on October 18, 2026 for the Filipino American community in Queens, for having successfully launched the 1st Little Manila Queens Parade and Block Party. About 1000 people joined the parade on 69th Street and the block party on 41st Avenue.
It will be a tradition, said Assemblymember Steven Raga, who spearheaded the celebration to highlight the Filipino American History Month of October.
Potri Ranka Manis of Kinding Sindaw (left) with Rachelle Peraz, president of New York chapter of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NAFFAA), and her two children at the Hart Playground assembly area.
Assemblymember Steven Raga
The first recorded wave of diasporic Filipinos were seafarers of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, who reportedly came to the shores of Morro Bay, California on October 18, 1587. This was long before the American union was created.
Some 70 Filipino Americans, including Judge Eve Cho Guillergan, former Deputy Mayor Maria Torres Springer, and Atty. Anne del Castillo of the NYC Cultural Affairs Commission, were honored during the event by Assemblymember Raga, the first Filipino American to hold an elected office in New York.
Former Deputy NYC Mayor Maria Torres Springer and Atty. Anne del Castillo of the NYC Cultural Affairs Commission.
The block party on 41st Avenue
Philippine languages professor and media practitioner Noel Panglinan
Actress Ching Valdez Aran
UNIFFIED, the largest Filipino teacher’s organization in the US.
The community celebration was blessed with sunshine and gripping cold, and the resolve, that it was the beginning of a Filipino American History Month tradition.
Honoree Noel Pangilinan said in his acceptance speech, “We should work for a Filipino town in Queens.” Actress Ching Valdez Aran couldn’t agree more, she said, as Filipinos have a diverse culture that needs representation, thus Little Manila has to grow.
Woodside is home to most Filipinos living in New York.#
