UbeFest Turns Five With a Free Ube and Mango Weekend in Cerritos, October 3 and 4

Five years after a handful of ube vendors drew three-hour lines in Long Beach, the festival comes back to Cerritos with mango on the menu too.

UbeFest celebrates its fifth anniversary with a free two-day festival at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA 90703. The anniversary edition, billed as an ube and mango fest under the banner Better Together, runs Saturday, October 3, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, October 4, closing at 8 p.m. Admission is free.

Ube and mango, together this time

Ube is the purple yam at the center of so many Filipino desserts, from halaya to ube cheesecake, and it has been the festival's anchor since day one. Mango joins it for the anniversary. The organizers ran a standalone MangoFest at the same Cerritos venue on August 30, with more than 75 vendors building dishes around the fruit, so expect the two themes to share the lot this weekend.

From a Long Beach pop-up to 100,000 visitors

Founder James Oreste launched UbeFest as a small pop-up in Long Beach in October 2021. That first event sold out across the board, and the festival has since traveled to Berkeley, New Jersey, St. Louis and Indianapolis while keeping its home base in Southern California.

The growth in Cerritos has been remarkable. The spring edition in April, produced with the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Cerritos and supported by the City of Cerritos, drew an estimated 100,000 people over two days with more than 150 vendors, according to the Asian Journal. The fifth anniversary brings the celebration back to the same venue for a fall weekend, in the lead-up to Filipino American History Month.

What we have our eye on

The vendor list for the anniversary has not been posted yet, but past UbeFest lineups have included Long Beach Lumpia, Banger Lumpia, 559 Bread and Butter, Battambong BBQ, Mana Bakery LA and Ube Area Bakery. Long Beach Lumpia owner Emerson Baja has been part of the festival for years and brought his ube cheesecake turon lumpia to LAist's AirTalk ahead of the spring edition. Beyond ube desserts, the festival has grown into a broad showcase of Filipino cooking, from lechon and sisig to halo-halo, alongside Filipino American makers, artists and live entertainment.

Saturday is the evening session, which gives it a night market feel, while Sunday is the better bet for families who want to graze through the afternoon. Arriving early on either day is a good idea given the crowds this festival draws.

If you go

UbeFest 5th Anniversary: Saturday, October 3, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, October 4, until 8 p.m. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA 90703. Free admission. Previous Cerritos editions have offered free on-site parking. Vendor announcements and any schedule updates are posted on the organizers' Instagram, @longbeachubefest.

It is a big food weekend across the region. San Gabriel's Dumpling and Beer Fest kicks things off Friday, October 2, and the Los Angeles Chocolate Salon lands in Pasadena on Sunday, October 4. For everything else on the calendar, browse our food events in Los Angeles.