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DCCA eyes return of Flame Tree Fest to Memorial Park
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Posted on May 25 2008
For the last two Flame Tree Festivals, the Commonwealth Council on Arts & Culture of the Department of community and Cultural Affairs has been hosting the event at the Civic Center. Next year, though, the CCAC hopes to take it back to the American Memorial Park.
DCCA Acting Secretary Melvin Faisao said that next year’s Flame Tree Festival will be the event’s 29th anniversary and plans to have it at the American Memorial Park “is with a pending status.”
The CCAC director is in the process of discussing the matter with the officials of the National Parks Service, which is the federal caretaker of the park, said Faisao.
CCAC’s executive director Cecilia T. Celes told the Saipan Tribune that “lately, there were some issues in the past that we faced, such as federal regulations, insurance policies that we needed to provide, and the fee to host the site that we had to pay and with the very little budget that we operate on, we couldn’t have hosted it there [at the AMP].”
The Civic Center has been a tough sell with some vendors, who believe that it would not draw as much number of people “because of the limited parking space.”
The festival drew up to 50,000 people in 2007 while at the Civic Center. However, according to many, the festival this year did not draw as much attention compared to previous years.
Faisao said that as discussions with officials of the American Memorial Park forge ahead, “be advised that DCCA is not very keen on certain requirements that is now being imposed by the current officer when the former caretaker [Chuck Sayon] used to provide exemption to, but with this new caretaker, there is no such thing as exemption.”
He concluded that “DCCA will disclose on the significant matter whether or not to have Flame Tree held there or not” upon finalization.
