Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas
Flame Tree Festival
Preparations Underway For Biggest Event Yet
Saipan will be the site of next April's 25th annual Flame Tree Festival and organizers of the event are determined to make this the biggest one ever. Planning for the festival began several months ago and organizers have sent invitations to countries in Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand and Australia, according to Robert H. Hunter, executive director of the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture (CCAC). The Flame Tree Festival will be held April 24-30 on Saipan.
Activities will include traditional voyaging, arts and cultural symposiums and conferences, the second annual Flame Tree Film Festival, and a publication of poetry by Pacific island youths. There will also be net and spear fishing derbies, traditional games such as coconut tree climbing, a canoe village, cooking demonstrations, school workshops and performances.
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The festival will include several new activities. A canoe village will feature traditional Pacific canoe exhibits, canoe building and rides. Hunter says several traditional canoe houses will be built at the American Memorial Park to accommodate the village and will remain at the park to enhance the historic Carolinian village site.
Everything about the 25th Flame Tree Festival will be enhanced," Hunter says. "This year's event (in May) brought over 500 participants from Hawaii, Guam, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Considering that we are opening up invitations to all of our Pacific islands brothers and sisters, we are looking at a substantially greater number of both participating artists and visitors." Each country will be allotted 20 members per delegation each, with housing, meals and ground transportation in Saipan to be provided.
The organizing committee has set a budget of $350,000 for the week-long event, about four times more the cost of past festivals due to an expected large number of participants expected. Hunter says his committee has begun soliciting private businesses for funding hoping that major corporations such as Mobil Oil Marianas, Duty-Free Shoppers, Verizon and the Marianas Visitors Authority become corporate sponsors, as they had done in past festivals. They will also be asking the Commonwealth Legislature for a special appropriation. "While the cost of the event is significantly higher than previous festivals," Hunter says, "it truly is a bare-bones cost that takes into account volunteer assistance. It is also small amount in comparison to both the cultural importance of the event and the opportunity for marketing that it reflects."
The Flame Tree Festival began 25 years ago at Kilili Beach, known then as Civic Center Beach in Susupe. It became so popular with thousands of attendees over three days that event organizers finally moved it to American Memorial Park in Garapan, adjacent to the main tourist district to attract tourists and provide ample parking space for local population.
"This is the first time the CNMI will host a cultural event of this magnitude that brings together so many island nations and to continue working towards all of our goals of the preservation, perpetuation and promotion of our unique island cultures," Hunter says, himself an artist who had been participating in many festivals in the past.
Flame Tree Festival derived its name from the bright orange-colored flowers from trees not indigenous to the Northern Marianas. Former Deputy High Commissioner Jose Benitez encouraged its planting at beach road stretching from San Antonio Village all the way to Garapan including various areas throughout Saipan during the Trust Territory Administration of the Mariana Islands in the early 1960s. The flowers bloomed during summer and the festivals used to be held at that time. However, to encourage participants from schools, the event date was advanced to April or May.
The Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture will be announcing the opening of booths, performing artists and special activities registrations over the next few months. For additional information about the 25th Annual Flame Tree Festival, Hunter and Festival Coordinator Angel Hocog can be contacted at (670) 322-9982/3 or Festival Promotions Chairperson Ms. Catherine P. Anderson at (670) 664-2576, facsimile (670) 322-9028 or email at galaidi@vzpacifica.net.
