PhilFest 2020 In Tampa Canceled Over Coronavirus Concerns

This past Sunday the PhilFest 2020 coordinator announced that organizers are cancelling the annual cultural festival in Tampa due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns. PhilFest draws thousands of people to Tampa to celebrate Filipino culture and food and is organized by the Philippine Cultural Foundation. This year was going to be the 25th anniversary of the festival.

Advanced tickets purchased and raffles will be honored in 2021.

Annual vendor, Mata's Carinderia, which recently opened a new restaurant called Mata's Philippine Cuisine in Tampa and is owned by Mr . and Mrs. Delio Mata reacted to the news:

"We are saddened that PhilFest 2020 has been canceled, we were looking forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary to announce that we finally have a restaurant to our patrons and that they no longer have to wait once a year and in 2 hour lines anymore, but we do understand that this is the safest and healthiest decision for everyone to cancel the festival for now."

Statement from PhilFest organizer Joey Omila.

There are currently 19 cases of COVID-19 in Florida and 2 are dead. Testing capacity has been steadily increasing as the CDC works to get more tests into state hands. The virus has swept the planet, with Italy recently announcing a lockdown of the entire country and South Korea working aggressively to contain outbreaks in Daegu.

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