'Dadfest' Set To Bring Together Dads For Father's Month

June is going to be a big month for fathers with Dadfest 2024 happening in Manila, Tagaytay, and Clark.

“We are all in the same boat. We want to be better dads, better husbands, and we want to take care of our families,” shared DadBudPH founder Joey Ong, during the kick-off event of Dadfest 2024 in R.O.X. Bonifacio Global City last June 8, 2024.

Dadfest 2024: What you need to know

As the founder and main administrator of the DadBudPH community on Facebook, he actively sought to bring in local dad communities for the second run of Dadfest, which he launched just last year.

“For the first Dadfest in Robinsons Galleria in 2023, we wanted to test and see if people will have interest. True enough, people came, shared their stories, and we saw the power of their stories,” Joey said. “Ang lalaki, naghahanap ng ibang kwento ng kapwa lalaki para magkaroon siya ng inspiration, and that's what really inspired me to do it again.”

He added, “For 2024, I want it to be different. Napansin ko kasi other communities tend to compete with each other. Tayong mga dads, we should be collective. Today is so special because we have the daddies from The Legendaddy, Dodong Gala, Dadblogsph, dadvocacy community, and more coming in to support.”

Active dads under one roof

The concept of this year's Dadfest is becoming an "Active Dad", and it's something that Joey talks about passionately. He encapsulated the meaning with a profound yet practical question: Who will take care of your family if you are sick?

In the early years of the DadBudPH community particularly during the pandemic, he had first-hand experience talking and consoling fathers who have lost family members and those who battled suicidal thoughts.

In proving the power of collective force, Smart Parenting Squad's Coach Enzo Bonoan was among the dad speakers in attendance, and he was joined by his wife Julia, also part of the Smart Parenting Squad, and their daughter Frankie.

A certified fitness and diet coach, Coach Enzo gave a glimpse of how it all started for him. He revealed that as a teenager, he was picked on and bullied because of his pimples, and it was his father that inspired him to exercise and eat right to make his skin healthier.

“Little did I know that my father's advice was the impetus for my fitness journey,” recalled Coach Enzo. “My father was with me in the gym and I started to enjoy working out. Eventually, my outlook in life changed, and I thank my father for that.”

Coach Enzo also shared some practical tips for the dads in attendance, and these included "fitness starts with you," meaning the change internally starts, and another is "systems, systems, systems," which leverages scientific studies that suggest 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise a week, which equates to 2 hours that can be divided into 5 to 6 days.

Raffy Zamora, a father of three girls and founder of the Legendaddy online community, also took time and joined the Dadfest 2024 kick-off event as one of the speakers.

“The more we can all come together, the more spaces that dads have to share and voice their concerns, I think it's so important because nobody is talking about what we need to talk about,” shared Raffy.

He continued to share that the mission of Legendaddy is to meet the fathers in their next step, wherever they currently are. For Raffy, that proves fatherhood is not an exact destination, but rather a journey for expectant dads, those who have newborns, and those who have been in it for 20 years or more.

A member of the DadBudPH community, Hernan Rellores aka Dodong Gala was also in attendance at the Dadfest kick-off. In 2020, he put up his personal blog on Facebook to share his health transformation, and has inspired 135,000 followers and counting. His main advocacy is to encourage fellow dads to live a healthy lifestyle, since it’s for the benefit of the family.

The makings of the biggest dad community

“I started DadbudPH in 2019, when my wife was about to give birth to our child. That was years ago, but I clearly remember how the community grew from 700 members to 1,000 and then 5,000. It grew so quickly. Next thing I knew, I was talking to strangers largely due to the challenges brought by the pandemic,” Joey recalled.

“Today we are going towards 73,000, and we are the biggest and the most active. I realized the power and beauty of becoming a parent. When one father learns that another man is becoming a father, there's a secret handshake that happens. I don't know if you've felt that, pero na-feel ko yun. There's that bond when you meet another guy who's also a dad.”

From the continuous growth of group members, a milestone for the community is being invited by Meta, main company of Facebook, to join the company's accelerator program. Joey represented not just DadBudPH, but the country, and shared his advocacy to the people from Silicon Valley and different parts of the world.

“For the longest time, I've been keeping it as a community since people have been saying that I'm already a "dad-fluencer." How I really see it, I'm a community builder. I'm here to bring everyone together, and we have a mission to make the world a better place, one dad at a time.”

June is the celebration month for dads and their families

Kicking off on Father's Day weekend, Dadfest 2024 starts on June 16 at Level 4, EDSA Wing of Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas Center, Quezon City. A host of activities that include Dadpreneur and Dadtalk sharing as well as fun with Tamiya Race DadBud Edition and Playtime with Dad at PlayLab are all in store. It's not just for Dads to enjoy, but for wives and kids as well.

In the following weekends of the month, Dadfest 2024 is rolling out to Sky Ranch Tagaytay on June 22 and finally in Clark City Front Mall on June 29, 2024.

Follow DadbudPH on Facebook for more updates here, or join the DadbudPH community here.

Happy Father's month, dads!