FSA Fun Festival celebrates culture

Eleven-year-old Allison Yu concentrated on the table of cups filled with water a few feet away. She had already missed her first two shots, and her ticket had only bought her eight ping pong balls.

With six balls left, she needed to sink at least three of them to win one of the goldfish swimming in the small tank in front of her.

Having spent the afternoon on campus with her family, Allison had tried to catch a fish in Jordan River. Here, now, was a second chance.

The cups were arranged to spell out “FSA,” and Allison, noticing where the cups were the densest, aimed her third attempt at the “A.”

She gently tossed the ball overhand, and it plopped easily into a cup. With one cup down, she quickly tried again.

This time, the ball first bounced before landing in a cup, a move worth two cups, giving Allison the three cups required for redemption.

“It feels good,” Allison said, holding the plastic bag containing her new, still unnamed pet.

The “fish pong” table was just one of many activities found at the FSA Fun Festival on Sunday. The event, organized by the IU Filipino Student Association, took place in Dunn Meadow and offered a dunk tank, face painting and even a kissing booth.

“The FSA is about promoting Filipino cultural awareness in the community,” FSA Secretary and sophomore Rochelle Chang said. “Today’s festival is about getting all of IU, hopefully, to recognize our organization. Hopefully people will know us after today and a little bit about our culture.”

From his perch in the dunk tank, sophomore and FSA Social Chairman Scottie Alora taunted those passing by the festival.

“I’m bored,” he yelled. “You’re looking at me like you’re going to dunk me. I don’t see anybody that can dunk me.”

The goading worked, bringing a steady crowd of people eager to hit the tank’s target and send Alora into the water below.

A few yards away, small children sat inside the face painting tent, asking for the bat signal or the IU logo to be drawn on their cheeks. A sign outside the tent showed illustrations of chickens and pigs with the Filipino word for each image — manok and baboy — written above them.

At the front of the festival, FSA President Carlos Querijero manned an information booth while a food tent set up near the moon bounce offered free Filipino cuisine, such as lumpia and pancit.

Sitting at the food tent, senior and FSA member Rodelyn Lipumano said free food is always a good way to help raise cultural awareness.

“IU prides itself on diversity, and I think this event helps make people, especially incoming freshman, more aware of what cultures are here that you can get to know,” she said.

Another FSA member, senior Jason Dilay, said he enjoyed the turnout for the event.

“I like that a lot of families came,” Dilay said. “It’s good for people to have the chance to know more about our culture, heritage and values.”