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Arts fest parade called off
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Posted on Apr 19 2001
The Commonwealth Council for Arts and Cultural has canceled its Street Parade scheduled for April 21 from 7am to 9am but added that all other Flame Tree Arts Festival activities and programs will go on as scheduled.
The Arts Council will hold the 20th Annual Flame Tree Arts Festival back on its original date in April after last year’s celebration failed to generate as much following as it did in the past.
Last year’s three-day festival did not meet the number of people originally expected to troop to the American Memorial Park to take part in the Commonwealth’s celebration of island cultures and traditions.
The Arts Council anticipated to generate a crowd of at least 20,000 people for last year’s festival. Also, the 19th Flame Tree Arts Festival failed to meet the anticipated number of commercial booths at 100, falling short by 21 from last year’s 96 participants to only 75 this year.
While economic slowdown could be one reason which dampened the spending behavior of local residents and tourists, the low turnout for the arts festival was generally blamed on the movement of its date from April to June.
The festival’s failure to generate a crowd as big as it did in 1999 has prompted the Arts Council to re-institute the original April date.
This year’s arts festival highlighted the culture of every single ethnic group in the CNMI through production numbers that include those from Guam, the Marshal Islands, Republic of Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, China, Korea, Japan and the Philippines.
The Commonwealth’s Flame Tree Festival is the largest annual arts affair in Micronesia, established 19 years ago to promote the arts and culture of all the ethnic groups in the Northern Marianas.
