GK 777 One Festival at Kimball Park

One Festival at Kimball Park

May 24, 2008 at Kimball Park in National City and the day started off pretty early for my assistant and I. We were both excited but I was pretty much trying to stay on track since this was my first coverage of an event on this scale and to know that Apl and Taboo of Black-Eyed Peas was going to perform really put it in perspective for me.

The day pretty much begins with a caravan from Plaza Bonita to Kimball Park along the Filipino-American Highway in the South Bay. There were many supporters and various representatives from GK 777, Prime Motivation, and ONE.






That was a very invigorating start to the morning. Everyone showed so much enthusiasm and excitement although there were only about 32 cars in the caravan. Joann, one of the main coordinators really put together a lot of effort in getting even that many people together.


At the park, the numerous events were underway with performances both current and cultural in criteria. I can’t name all the performers but one of the notables was Q-York, a Filipino Hip Hop group out of New York City with a recording studio out in the West Coast in Los Angeles.


Numerous luminaries were also on hand to lend their support including the Mayor of National City and the Chief of Police.



I suppose though that a lot of the excitement was reserved for the appearance of Black Eye Peas. I was up in the V.I.P. staging area, the only photographer to capture Apl Ap as he exited his vehicle before the performance.



The performance was awesome with some of the students from Bell and Morse Junior High School joining both Taboo and Apl on stage towards the end.





It really felt good to be amongst so many people especially to be with the Filipino American community with a singular purpose of uniting everyone in recognizing and appreciating the Heritage and Culture. Although it did start off pretty gloomy, as the day progressed, the Sun did grace us all with what turned out to be a very warm and bright day as can be seen in the video that I put together. Hopefully next years Festival turns out just as good if not bigger and better.