The Pasefika Festival, produced by the community services arm of the White Center Assembly was held Saturday, Aug 14 at White Center Heights Elementary School at 10015 6th Avenue Southwest and featured multi cultural displays, music dancing and a lot of food.

This was the seventh annual event in the series that was begun by the church which also uses the school as its assembly hall on Sundays.
They had "Barbecue, traditional Samoan food, arts and crafts, information booths, and more," said Vili Talaepa head of security for the event.

King County Executive Dow Constantine came to speak at the event as he has in years past, and Sili Savusa and Sue Godding both Highline School Board members also had some thoughts for the crowd.

Pastor Mable Magalei said, "The purpose and focus of the festival is to bring the Pacific Island community together, to see each other but also to celebrate our heritage and culture."

The event featured performances from Fiji, Micronesia, Samoa, Hawaii, Tonga and elsewhere.

"We started off doing mostly educational programs for students and families and we kind of grew and there were so many pacific island families that we were working with we thought, hey, let's bring them and the rest of our community together on one day, just to celebrate," Magalei said.

Attendance, which usually numbers around 4000, was impacted this year by weddings, funerals and a cricket match but nonetheless the event was full of people all enjoying the food and the hot weather.

White Center Assembly is looking for a permanent home for the church and may end up building a church if they can find the right location.