What to know
- Late Night Madness by Seafood City is collaborating with Kalamansi Collective for four nights on Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13, transforming the grocery store into an after-hours Filipino party in Scarborough.
- The event is free to attend, with guests encouraged to register through the SFC+ App or on-site.
- Expect DJs, Filipino street food, classic drinks and plenty of line dancing, with a lineup curated by Toronto’s top Filipino DJs.
- Seafood City and Kalamansi Collective are debuting an exclusive limited-edition merch drop, available only during the event series.
Scarborough is about to get its own late-night after-party as Seafood City rolls out a special edition of the popular Late Night Madness series.
The viral after-hours grocery party series has been making waves across North America, and the four-night event will take over Seafood City Scarborough (20 Lebovic Ave.) on Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13 from 8 p.m. to midnight, offering a late-night mix of food and community energy, this time through a special partnership with Toronto’s Kalamansi Collective.
For Seafood City, the goal has always been to create a space that feels like more than just a supermarket.
“We’ve always been more than a grocery store, Seafood City is a home away from home for Filipinos,” Patricia Francisco, director of digital marketing & events at Seafood City US & Canada, said in a press release.
“Late Night Madness is our way of celebrating the culture that connects us. Partnering with Kalamansi Collective brings that energy to a new level, and we’re grateful to create moments that feel familiar, heartwarming, and proudly Filipino. We hope to bring more of these experiences to even more communities in the future.”
Late Night Madness gained traction online by transforming the standard Filipino grocery store experience into a vibrant social gathering.
While Seafood City locations in the U.S. and across Canada have hosted versions of the event, this Scarborough edition stands out for its partnership with Kalamansi Collective, marking the only Canadian collaboration of its kind.
Founded in 2022, the collective is a clothing and lifestyle brand that celebrates immigrant families and the legacy of their hard work. Rooted in cultural storytelling and inspired by the punchy Filipino citrus fruit calamansi, the brand utilizes creative designs to honour the community.
What guests can expect is something rarely seen in a grocery store: DJs spinning Hip-Hop and R&B, Filipino street food favourites, classic drinks and, of course, plenty of line dancing, an essential feature of any Filipino party.
A PARTNERSHIP ROOTED IN COMMUNITY
For Kris Pangilinan, founder of Kalamansi Collective, the partnership came naturally.
“Seafood City actually reached out to us, and they wanted to work with local brands and community brands, especially like us. In Canada, we’re the only ones that they’re partnering with. And it was just an incredible opportunity to really get the community out there, especially during the holidays. Filipinos love Christmas, Filipinos love to eat. And so when you put all those together, you have an incredible event, and that is for the community. And so when Seafood City reached out, it was a no-brainer,” he told Now Toronto.
He added that part of the excitement comes from finally bringing to Toronto the kind of large-scale Filipino events that many grew up watching online.
“We have a lot of friends of the brand that went to the ones in Daly City, and we said, ‘Man, this has got to be replicated here in Canada, and we can do it bigger and better, especially with this community.’ Growing up in Canada, we always saw Filipinos united and full of joy online, but now we have the opportunity to do it ourselves. We can do it bigger and better than California, and we know Canadians can always do it better, so that’s why we wanted to put it together,” he said.
BRINGING THE SPOTLIGHT TO SCARBOROUGH
For Pangilinan, hosting the series in Scarborough was intentional.
“We want to be able to bring our community together and show off Scarborough. Scarborough, traditionally, has not always had the best light. And we want to be able to say, ‘Hey, Scarborough shows up. The people of Scarborough deserve something like this,’” he noted.
He hopes the event becomes a rare space where different pockets of the Filipino community gather in one place.
“We know a lot of families who grew up in Scarborough usually either meet up at church, or they meet up at a basketball tournament, or they meet up at the local Filipino store, but this is a great opportunity to bring everyone across the city of Toronto and Scarborough into one space, a space that is ours. Bringing everyone together into one room, under one roof, it’s just going to be a great month of joy and excitement, and everyone’s just gonna have a fun time.”
TORONTO’S TOP FILIPINO DJs TAKE OVER THE AISLES
A major draw of the event is its four-night DJ lineup, carefully selected by Kalamansi Collective.
“This is going to be the best of the best Filipino DJ in Toronto. We have some incredible, incredible disc jockeys that are going to be coming out. We hand selected each and every one of these DJs and we want to be able to listen to our Hip-Hop songs, our R&B and then we want to be able to line dance. Every single DJ that’s coming out is going to have that same vibe,” Pangilinan explained.
DJ Lineup
Dec. 5: DJ Manalang & KenJCal
Dec. 6: Dolf The DJ & P Baby
Dec. 12: Murdasaki & ThatSoGQ
Dec. 13: FlyLadyDi & Jeka
AN EXCLUSIVE MERCH DROP
Kalamansi Collective and Seafood City will also debut a limited-run shirt, available only during the event series.
“We are going to be dropping a special edition Seafood City Kalamansi Collective shirt, and it will only be exclusively available at those events. If you don’t get to those events, you won’t get [one], we don’t think we are ever dropping it again, and if you’re not there, you’re missing out,” Pangilinan said.
Read More
HOW TO ATTEND
All four nights of Late Night Madness are free, and guests can secure tickets by downloading the SFC+ App or registering on-site.
