'It's a lifestyle': Ube x Matcha Fest returns to downtown Stockton for third year on Saturday

For a third year, Ube Fest returns to downtown Stockton. This year, the festival has a new twist and name, Ube X Matcha Fest.

"Ube x Matcha Fest is a celebration of a blending of cultures," Kevin Sunga, co-executive director of Kommunity Hub told The Record on Wednesday.

Kommunity Hub, a Stockton nonprofit is hosting its 3rd annual event in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month with an AAPI Culture Crawl in downtown Stockton, on Saturday, May 11 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This year organizers have expanded the event in downtown Stockton at three venues.

• Sweet and Savory Street, 369 E. Market St. in Stockton
• The Courthouse Plaza, 306 E. Main St. in Stockton
• Huddle Cowork, 110 N. San Joaquin St. in Stockton

"We want to revitalize that space. This is our way to activate the downtown area," Mariah Taloa, founder and co-executive director of Kommunity Hub said. "By having the three different venues this way we can accommodate more venues, more entertainment, and more food."

The event was inspired by "Halo-Halo Holidays" (a Filipino Christmas crawl) in San Francisco, Sunga said.

Sunga and Taloa, two San Francisco natives, said they wanted to bring a similarly styled event to Stockton.

"We want to give folks the opportunity, or show them they can have these large festivals and (don't) have to travel so far," Sunga said.

Sunga called the Ube x Matcha Fest a "mini Coachella." The festival is something that is in its "super infant stage that's growing into a movement."

Read more: Bay Area students see Stockton’s cultural sites: ‘A gold mine of Asian history and culture’

What is ube and matcha?

This year not only are they bringing back the purple yam known as ube but they are also adding the green tea matcha to the mix.

Organizers decided to add matcha to the event to include more "Asian American Pacific Islander communities" and celebrate them, Sunga said.

"For folks who don't know what ube is, ube and matcha are both like popular ingredients in Asian cuisine particularly for the Filipino or Filipinx, and Asian Pacific Islander and Japanese cultures respectively," Sunga said. "Both are most commonly used in desserts."

According to Food & Wine, "native to Southeast Asia, ube is a purple yam whose glimmering purple center, mild, sweet flavor, and coconut-like aroma have made it a popular ingredient in traditional Filipino sweets."

At the festival, guests will be able to find ube foods such as ube pasta, Spam musubi with a little bit of matcha and ube sauce, and ube matcha pop tarts, Taloa said. Casa Pinoy, Makers Made, Nika's Mad Sweets, Teapsy On Clouds, and Terra Coffee are some of the food vendors participating.

"A lot of it is baked and a lot of it is drinks," Sunga added.

While ube is more of a sweet food, matcha is its opposite. The potent green tea is typically sold in powder form and made into a latte or added as a flavor to desserts.

"It's really for our AAPI community and anyone who wants to explore the culinary taste buds with ube and matcha..." Taloa said. "I know a lot of people are asking, 'is it a trend?' But I say, it's not a trend for us it's a lifestyle."

"I've heard feedback where people say it feels like a family barbecue," Taloa said.

Aside from food, there will be performances by CRSB, Dragon Dance Troupe, Good Time Collective, Puna O Le Ola. There will also be community resources such as Little Manila Rising, EMAC, FANHS Stockton Chapter and the FANHS Museum, and Reinvent South Stockton, among others.

Revitalize downtown

In the early 1970s, low-income housing was destroyed to build the crosstown freeway in downtown Stockton. It displaced a large number of elderly , impoverished and unmarried Filipino men. These men were mostly ex-farmworkers who retired due to old age and infirmity, The Record previously reported.

Kommunity Hub is bringing events to Stockton such as the Ube x Matcha Fest to revitalize downtown.

"The purpose for this event, really, it's an umbrella of what Kommunity Hub's mission is and that's to empower our emerging AAPI businesses, and really providing opportunities or a platform for them to showcase their products, their work and their talent. It doesn't matter if they're a food business, retail business, performer or artists. We want to support our community as much as we can..." Taloa said. "We want to help revitalize the downtown area, along with reclaiming our space in downtown Stockton, or rather reclaiming the AAPI community space due to the Crosstown Freeway."

Read more: Forgotten faces of Little Manila

Street parking is free on the weekends, Taloa said.

There will also be $5 parking per vehicle from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday at Market Street Garage at 430 E. Market St. in Stockton, she wrote in an email.

There are three-tier ticket options with gift items.

Their pricing was based on their fiscal sponsor from San Francisco, making sure the event is accessible to "all levels of income," Taloa said.

• $10-$15 with a commemorative button
• $20-$25 with a button and sticker
• $75-$100 with button and sticker and pin

Card and cash payments will be accepted at the Courthouse Plaza, Sunga said.

"Come check it out, have fun, and take it for what it is and be willing to adventure in downtown Stockton," Sunga said.

For more information visit kommunityhub.org .

Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ AngelaydetRocha . To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow .

This article originally appeared on The Record: 'It's a lifestyle': Ube x Matcha Fest returns to downtown Stockton for third year on Saturday