MVA launches Christmas in the Marianas
The Marianas Visitors Authority has officially launched its annual Christmas in the Marianas event—this time at the T Galleria instead of the Paseo de Marianas, where it is usually held, due to ongoing renovations at the Paseo.
MVA unveiled its Christmas in the Marianas event last Saturday through a lighting ceremony, with the aim of evoking Christmas cheer among tourists and members of the CNMI community.
A handful of Christmas trees decorated by local schools with recycled materials were lit up at the event, signifying the start of the annual event.
In an interview with MVA managing director Chris Concepcion, he said MVA is very excited to bring back the Christmas event, which has been a staple for MVA for nearly 20 years.
“This program is our campaign to liven up the tourist district, provide a space for residents and visitors to come and see and enjoy the Christmas spirit in the Commonwealth. This is a nearly 20-year-old event, so we’re excited to keep it going, we’re excited to have it here in T-Galleria,” he said.
For the first time, MVA is collaborating with DFS T Galleria in hosting this event.
“Tonight, we had the launch in partnership with DFS T Galleria. Historically, we’ve always held this event at Paseo de Marianas and because the area is still under construction, we decided to move it away from that area because of safety issues. DFS reached out, offering the possibility of using their property to host this event. We felt this environment is closer to the main tourist district, definitely closer to the hotels, shopping centers, restaurants, and gift shops. Tourists are staying just steps away from this area so we felt this was a better location. Also, the [Garapan] Fishing Base is used every weekend by our community for Sabalu Market and we don’t want to disrupt that so we decided to move it over here,” he said.
During last Saturday’s lighting ceremony, MVA also launched the Garapan illumination project. These are the light sculptures on the palm trees along Beach Road in Garapan.
Concepcion said the Christmas trees and lights will be up until mid-January.
Competition winners, however, will be announced on the last Saturday of December.
T Galleria
