From Flame Tree to Island Fair - Festival of Pacific Arts Guam 2016

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From Flame Tree to Island Fair
By Monica Okada Guzman
L
ast weekend the Commonwealth Council for Arts & Culture hosted the 34th Flame Tree
Festival in Saipan. The four-day festival
is the longest-running event in Micronesia, longer even than our own Guam Micronesia Island Fair.
Held at the Civic Center Park in
Susupe, the entertainment, food and
crafts were a sampling of all the Northern Marianas has to offer. Hundreds of
people walked through the festival
grounds, many of them carrying away
handmade items and beautiful pieces of
artwork from close to 60 booths. Entertainment on the stage ranged from a bal- Franquez, performed songs by Johnny
let performance to a martial arts Sablan and Flora Baza and were a huge
demonstration and music bands and cul- hit.
Being at Flame Tree was an opportutural dance groups.
nity to invite our neighbors to the north
And what would a festival
to participate at next month’s
on the beach be without the fiGuam Micronesia Island Fair and
esta plates? The empanadas,
the 2016 Festival of Pacific Arts.
ribs, chicken and pickled ginFliers for both events were disger were mouthwatering, delitributed and numerous announcecious and tasteful.
ments were made on stage
The Guam Council on the
throughout the weekend.
Arts and Humanities Agency
The excitement of Flame Tree
has long participated at Flame
and next year’s festival was felt
Tree, bringing artists, crafters
throughout the event. Many peoand dancers from Guam. This
ple stopped by the Guam hut askGuzman
year was no exception, aling questions and sharing their
though we had a much smaller
stories of previous festivals. It was excitgroup this time around. Angel Hocog, ex- ing to hear they have already formed
ecutive director of the Commonwealth their own FestPac Committee being
Council for Arts & Culture and staff were chaired by John Oliver DLR Gonzales
very excited that Guam was there, along and fundraising efforts are underway. We
with a contingent from Rota and Tinian. look forward to seeing a contingent from
Supported by the Guam Visitors Bu- the Northern Marianas at this year’s
reau was Master Carver Greg Pangelinan Guam Micronesian Island Fair.
and Master Blacksmith Francisco
There were some flame trees in
Lizama, along with Dee Hernandez, cul- bloom, with the brilliant orange flowers
tural heritage officer for GVB. Vince and lighting up the sky along Beach Road
Becky Salas were there with their beau- and a very appropriate name for the festifully handcrafted Chamorro jewelry, as tival.
was Carver Frank Perez, accompanied
Anyone who travels to Saipan will
by his wife, Judy. The Southern High agree that the trip is not complete withSchool band, under the direction of Larry out a visit to Herman’s Bakery and of
Copyright © 2015 Pacific Daily News 05/01/2015
course the special orders of apigigi and
manha tatiyas. Maybe it’s the coconuts
up north, but for some reason, it just
seems to taste better and sweeter coming
from Saipan! We’ll just need to share
some recipes during the culinary demonstrations at FestPac.
This week is the deadline for the 27
island countries to submit the country
surveys included in the official invitation
sent out by Gov. Eddie Calvo in March.
The Committee is anxious to receive the
responses to the country surveys that include details such as the maximum/minimum number of each country
delegation. This will greatly assist Festival Director Rose Ramsey in the planning efforts.
On the programming side, CAHA will
have a better sense of the different artistic disciplines that the countries will participate in, such as the performing arts,
literary arts and demonstrations/exhibitions that include the traditional arts and
visual arts.
Just as the NMI is preparing for FestPac in 2016, so, too, are our neighboring
islands, from the Marshalls to Pohnpei to
Palau. And it begins with the Guam Micronesia Island Fair May 15-17 at Ypao.
We encourage everyone to come and experience just a small taste of what FestPac will be. The fair will be the start of
the official countdown to FestPac in
2016. Come and help us celebrate as we
prepare for the largest event to hit our
shores since the 1999 South Pacific
Games.
Håfa Iyo-ta, Håfa Guinahå-ta, Håfa Ta
Påtte: Dinanña’ Sunidu Siha giya Pasifiku — What We Own, What We Have,
What We Share: United Voices of the Pacific.” With only 386 days till opening
ceremony, we have done so much but
there is still so much more to do!
Monica Okada Guzman chairs
the Guam Council on the Arts
and Humanities Agency.
May 4, 2015 2:05 am / Powered by TECNAVIA