Previous Story
Event coordination
|
Posted on Nov 27 2006
It has been almost two years since I moved to Hawaii, and although I do enjoy the islands—I do miss Saipan, Micronesia, and its warm people—I am finding myself getting very frustrated in trying to organize new events.
There are events here on the Big Island, but most are on the Kona side. I have attempted to organize events and have found there is too much “red tape.” This may be both good and bad. I feel, we have it made on Saipan. You have some great people organizing events and within limits, they are able to coordinate events, and they receive very good support from the various government agencies. Especially, when it comes to road races and triathlons, its basically preparations for the event and the site of the event, and keeping within safe guidelines, Public Safety and Public Health are always there to help.
I really enjoy organizing the Tagaman since there is so much private sector and government support, and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. It is almost “easy,” but time consuming.
In order to put on an event (Hawaii) here, one must have a chartered organization, must have a board of directors, and be insured, then you need a permit to use a specific area, or each specific area. You need sponsors or money since most major help must be compensated. Sponsors are hard to come by as there are all kinds of events going on, cultural, musical, school related, reunions, etc.
What I am trying to say is it was great and fairly easy to put on events on Saipan, and we usually were able to get sufficient support to make the event successful. It is much more difficult here and much costlier. Therefore, keep a good thing going while you still have it.
[I](Sakovich is the former director of the Division of Sports and Recreation, co-founder of the Saipan Swim Club, and a NMASA Hall of Fame inductee.)[/I]
