That’s a Wrap on Undiscovered Season 3!
We kicked off the holidays with the season finale of Undiscovered SF – a holiday market at the iconic Westfield Mall!
Being at Westfield during peak holiday shopping was a dream come true for our team and the 20+ retail vendors that were featured at the market. From veteran retailers like Asmbly Hall who anchored the Entrepinays Pop-Up space to new retailers like The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook who are making waves with their traditional and modern recipes, we love being able to give rising merchants, local businessess, artists, and community organizations a platform to share their stories.
With a brand new space came new challenges like supplying electricity to all of our vendors under the dome and supplying our chefs and food vendors with the proper equipment to cook on site. Having a team that’s willing to jump in with creative solutions and a helping hand makes us feel really lucky to do this work every month!
To celebrate the holiday theme, we wanted to bring in Filipino Christmas traditions like a parol lantern workshop hosted by community legend MC Canlas.
Big thanks to Arkipelago Books who curated author readings in a cozy reading area that gave guests a chance to sit and relax amidst the busy shopping day!
The art auction was a huge success with nearly every piece sold by the end of the day! All of the proceeds from the art auction were given back to the local artists to fund their work or support charities and organizations that the artists are passionate about.
One of our favorite parts of the holiday market was hearing Filipino Christmas carols sung by both the CMC Bayanihan Equity Center Older Adult Choir and the superstar Jayne Rio. We were moved by hearing Filipino Christmas carols in a mainstream space like Westfield and seeing the reactions of both Filipino and non-Filipino audiences connecting with the songs despite the potential language barrier. Being able to give our community and Filipino traditions, food, art, and culture a platform to grow through our work and the events we plan is an honor and a privilege. We can’t thank everyone enough for the overwhelming support and love that they’ve shown at each of our Undiscovered events. We can’t wait to see you next year for Undiscovered Season 4!
Check out all of the photos by Mogli Maureal @themogli:
