Since the 1950s, the Philippines Council in Seattle has celebrated the anniversary of Philippine independence from Spain in June 1898 with a reception or festival. This poster advertises the 1981 Philippine Independence Day Celebration, sponsored by the Philippine Consulate General and the Filipino-American Intercommunity Council of the Pacific Northwest, with an abstracted sunset behind a silhouette of palm trees. The two-day festival included dancing and singing performances and displays of arts, crafts, and textiles.
In 1987, the newly created Filipino Cultural Heritage Society of Washington expanded this celebration into the annual Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival, which would become part of the Seattle Center's Festal season that celebrates various ethnic and international communities in the Seattle region.
Text on poster: Philippine Independence Day Celebration, Seattle Center, June 13-14, 1981, Sponsored by Philippine Consulate General, Filipino-American Intercommunity Council of the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Center
Caption information source: "Philippine Celebration Will Brighten Weekend," by Carole Beers, The Seattle Daily Times, June 10, 1981, p. B4; "The Sarimanok Soars!: A Look Back at Pagdiriwang through the Years," by Ferdinand De Leon, Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival, https://www.festalpagdiriwang.com/how-we-began
ID Number: 2019.3.36
Date: 1981
Physical Description: 1 poster : color ; 13 x 24 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
