Christmas Village now open

The brightly lit Christmas Village at the courtyard of the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe was officially unveiled to the public last Sunday night with a lighting ceremony.

Hundreds gathered to witness the lighting of the 2nd Annual Christmas Village, with first lady Diann Torres herself flipping on the switch that made the displays come alive.

A total of 28 Christmas Village cottages created by government and private agencies were lit up, along with the enormous Christmas tree displayed at the center’s courtyard.

The project is a brainchild of the Lady Diann Torres Foundation.

Torres believes this year’s lighting ceremony is more successful. “It was better than last year, I think. We see more people. Everybody just opted for higher this year,” she said.

Torres said she decided bring the village back and make it an annual thing because it turned out to be quite popular among community members.

The village not only brings out the Christmas spirit but also brings joy to the children.

“It’s really just to raise the Christmas spirit and to bring joy and tidings to the kids. I want it to be a place where anybody can come and find peace and joy and relax,” said Torres.

According to her, most of this year’s cottages belong to agencies that participated last year, with an addition of a few other companies. “We wanted to reach out to them first and we also tried to open up slots to accommodate other companies,” she said.

This year, the participants were more enthusiastic about creating their cottages after the winning agency, the Department of Public Safety, set the standard quite high last year.

This year, the cottages will be judged and a winner will be chosen based on the judges’ ruling and community votes.

Torres said the grand prize winner would receive $300, the runner-up would receive $200, and third place would receive $100.

Winners will also be chosen for the categories of most creative, best in theme, and people’s choice.

The voting polls were opened during the lighting ceremony and will be open to the public every Tuesday up until Dec. 18.

Torres cited the Saipan Mayor’s Office, the Department of Corrections, Department of Public Works, Department of Public Safety, and many other sponsors. “They were a really big help, they were right behind me, they had my back throughout,” she said.

According to one of the judges of the Christmas Village, Chavel Green, “these kind of activities to pull people together.”

Green said she was amazed at the amount of time and effort spent just to put the village together.

Green said that each cottage also represented the amount of effort that was exerted just to give back to the community. “It shows how much the companies are giving back to the community by really taking the time to develop it, which shows their commitment,” she said.

The village will be open to the public every night until the end of December, from 6pm to 9pm on the weekdays and 6pm to 11pm on weekends.