The biggest social events of 2005

The year 2005 was marked with big social events that provided entertainment to all members of the family, from the toddlers to Mom and Dad.

Flame Tree Arts Festival

Despite the lack of Flame Tree blossoms around the island, the CNMI held the 24th Flame Tree Arts Festival at American Memorial Park in April. For the first time in its 24-year history, this year’s Flame Tree Arts Festival included a film festival.

The Arts Festival also revived the booth-decorating competition. The festival started off with a Parade of Cultures highlighting participants in traditional costumes. More than 100 performers from Hawaii, Guam, Palau, and other Pacific islands performed traditional dances and presentations that local guests and tourists enjoyed during the event. The festival was such a huge success that there were talks of extending it to five days in the future.

TASTE OF THE MARIANAS

In May, the 7th annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival and Beer Garden kicked off at American Memorial Park with 11 hotels and restaurants participating in the event, serving different types of cuisine for the guests’ delight. Competitions such as cooking, bartending, and others perked up the fair every night.

The fair was a hit for food lovers and for those who liked to try different types of food that local hotels and restaurants offer.

LIBERATION DAY

Liberation Day proved that not even the scorching heat of the morning and midday sun is enough to put a damper on the mood of thousands of people on Saipan who joined together in celebrating the 60th Liberation Day of the CNMI and the 229th American Independence Day.

A total of 45 ethnic groups and organizations and vehicle marched and rolled along the long stretch of Beach Road from Quartermaster Road to the Kristo Rai Church, which was closed from 6am to 9am, for the Independence Day parade.

Yvonne Passi was crowned the 2005 Liberation Day Queen and the United Filipino Organization was declared the Liberation Day Float Competition winner.

FIRST ECO-ARTS FESTIVAL

The first 2005 EcoArts Festival kicked off with livewire band performances and a film festival at American Memorial Park Visitor Center. Aside from the Battle of the Bands Competition, the festival also held competitions such as the Cook-A-Rainbow Challenge, Visual Arts and Sculpture Park, Film Festival, and the Poetry Slam.

The highlight of the festival was the Recycle Wear Fashion Competition participated by different groups in the CNMI. The group Paperdolls ruled the runway as they bagged two of the three major prizes during the contest. Their gowns made of recycled materials were displayed at the DFS Galleria windows.

MANILA’S CONCERT KING

More than 3,000 people packed Hopwood Junior High School’s football field to watch Martin Nievera’s “A Night to Remember” in July in what was undoubtedly Saipan’s concert event of the year.

Hundreds of cars filled the allotted parking space inside and outside the school. With an eight-piece band, Nievera wowed the audience despite the downpour at the end of the show.

The concert was a fundraising event for the Northern Marianas College Foundation. All proceeds went to the foundation for its numerous cause-oriented activities.

ARC’S COMEDY CLUB 200

The American Red Cross NMI Chapter’s 18th annual fundraising event at the Hyatt, dubbed Comedy Club 200, triumphed over the torrential rain during the event and reaped for the organization its most successful staging of the fundraiser ever.

The evening could have failed spectacularly, what with the rain and the crowded conditions under the tents, but stand-up comic Frank De Lima battled with the elements and emerged successful, forging ahead with perfect comedic timing that had the audience in stitches throughout the night.

MISS MARIANAS 2005

Eighteen-year-old Shequita L. Bennett was declared the 2005 Miss Marianas Universe after winning the hearts and minds of judges with her beauty, wit, confidence during the pageant’s coronation in early November at the World Resort Saipan.

Bennett is a daughter of Board of Education teacher representative and Kagman High School teacher Ambrose Bennett. She will represent the CNMI in the 2006 Miss Universe to be held in China and the 2006 Miss International in Japan. Bennett is currently busy preparing for the Miss Universe Pageant in May.

CHINA’S ACROBATICS

Breathtaking moves, incredible balancing acts, spectacular and colorful costumes, and fantastic music were the order of the day during the three-day performance of the Liaocheng Acrobatics Troupe of China at the Marianas High School Gymnasium early December.

The dazzling acrobatic show so amazed the audience that came to see the performances Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that they kept asking for encores. The two-hour show always ended up on a standing ovations befitting what many observers believe has been the best family-oriented show on Saipan the past few years.

ANASTASIA ON SAIPAN

A Saturday night in early December on Saipan was dubbed as an enchanting evening when the Mt. Carmel Theatre Club held a production of “Anastasia” on stage at the Saipan World Resort. Saipan Tribune’s columnist Jaime Vergara once said the sight of young people artfully prancing and dancing on stage is always a winner in any clime, more so on an island that is normally devoid of disciplined and crafted performances.

He hailed the Mt. Carmel Theatre Club’s 10-year anniversary rendition of “Anastasia” that gave the CNMI “a piece dé resistance, a vibrant and comedic performance with an equally accomplished accompaniment by the Guam Territorial Band.”

CONCERT OF BALLET STARS

A ballet show that brought grace and pomp to local scene was early December’s Swan Lake and Concert of Ballet Stars at the Hotel Nikko Saipan Theater Hall.

The event was truly one of Saipan’s best cultural events of the year and brought world-class ballet performers from Russia and Japan, together with homegrown talents.

No less than 500 ballet aficionados watched the show on Dec. 9 and 10 performed by alumni and students of Perm State Opera and Ballet Theater, Takagi Ballet School of Tokyo, and Saipan’s very own Glushko’s Academy of Performing Arts.

The show was made up of two parts. Swan Lake had Glushko’s Academy up-and-coming ballerinas perform with Russian and Japanese prima ballerinas, while Concert of Ballet Stars exclusively featured Perm State Opera and Ballet Theater’s Nikolai Kalabin and Dasha Sosnina, Takagi Ballet School of Tokyo’s Saeka Kato and Aya Muto, and local ballerina Anna Glushko.