Halika Fest 2026 mental health fair at Balboa Park International Cottages

Philippine Nurses Association of San Diego County hosts Halika Fest, its fourth annual mental health and wellness community day, Saturday, October 3, 2026 from 1 to 4 p.m. on the International Cottages lawn in Balboa Park. House of the Philippines is co-hosting the site. PNASD moved the event to the cottages this year after running prior fairs in South Bay venues such as National City.

"Halika" means "come along" in Tagalog. The free afternoon is a resource fair, not a food festival. Expect booths and speakers aimed at raising awareness, cutting stigma, and connecting families with mental health and community services. PNASD, a 501(c)(3) nursing association, frames the work as advocacy nurses can do outside the hospital: education, referrals, and normalizing help-seeking in Filipino families where mental health still carries quiet shame.

This is the fourth year PNASD has run a public wellness event. Earlier editions drew county health speakers and community partners; the Balboa Park move puts the fair beside the House of the Philippines cottage and the shared HPR outdoor stage at 2294 Pan American Plaza. That is the same lawn stack House of Pacific Relations uses for weekend cottage programs, so parking and tram patterns match a typical Saturday in the park.

RSVP on the PNASD Wild Apricot page so organizers can plan staffing. Admission is free. Donations support the fest through PNASD's Halika sponsorship tiers on the same site. Balboa Park parking fills on October weekends; arrive early or take the park tram from Inspiration Point or the zoo lot. Bring a chair or blanket. The program runs 1 to 4 p.m., short enough to pair with an afternoon elsewhere.

Who this is for: Filipino families, nurses and healthcare workers, and anyone who wants a low-pressure wellness afternoon without ticketed programming. Skip it if you are hunting a tinikling stage and lumpia row; SAMA Fest already covered the big Filipino arts weekend in August.

Halika lands the same Saturday as the Mira Mesa Street Fair, so North County families can choose a closed-street fair or a park lawn fair without doubling back across I-15.

PNASD has run a mental health education series and prior awareness fairs in National City with county behavioral health partners. Halika is the public-facing piece of that longer advocacy thread: less clinical conference, more neighbor-to-neighbor signposting. Expect tables from community orgs rather than a stage-heavy entertainment schedule.

Bring sunscreen and water; the lawn is open sky with limited shade at midday. The three-hour window is short enough to combine with a House of the Philippines cottage visit if the house is open that Saturday.

Our take: pair this with a morning cottage walk if you want Filipino community programming without the June independence lawn crush. It is the wellness counterprogram to ticketed GASD Navratri Night 2 downtown the following weekend.

When: October 3, 2026 (1–4 p.m.)
Where: International Cottages lawn, 2294 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101

Register on pnasandiego.wildapricot.org.