Last Saturday Aug 14 was a significant event for the Filipino community in Vancouver as the first ever Filipino Cultural Street parade was launched. The most obvious purpose of this event, of course, is to reaffirm our pres­ence as a united culture here in Vancouver, not that Canadians are not aware of this but perhaps to make them aware that we as a community can also make noise, louder, if not the same cacopho­nous noise as a Chinese Lion dance parade. But really, I thought this was more of a chance for the hundred or so local Filipino asso­ciations to do something worth-wile departing from the usual and already boring fund-raising dinner and dance, beauty pageants and singing idol wannabee competi­tions.