REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK

Even before the start of the parade at 10am, people were already lined up and down the side of the Beach Road highway with colorful tents and costumes, from the front of the grandstand at the Garapan Fishing Base to the starting area down at the National Office Supply. (Leigh Gases)

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Heading down to the Garapan Fishing Base in the morning, the skies looked mean and dark—with the north side of the island dealt with heavy rain. In Garapan, however, the skies were clear and for once, the parade wasn’t rained on. (Leigh Gases)

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The return of CNMI’s tourism market has been regularly documented on various media platforms, be it print news or television. Although it is true, most of the time the information is based off reports from airlines and government officials.

However, during the annual Liberation Day parade yesterday along Beach Road, the reports claiming tourists have returned became more of a reality as tourists walked through the crowded street of Garapan with their selfie sticks out to capture the parade.

Some of these tourists were ecstatic to see their culture represented in some of the floats through either the Korean association or the Japanese association who took part in yesterday’s festivities. (Kimberly B. Esmores)

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The crowd got a kick out of a taxi van that got caught in the line of cars and floats that took part in the annual Liberation Day parade.

As car clubs paraded their unique car builds yesterday afternoon along Beach Road revving and honking, it was definitely a shock for many to see the procession of customized vehicles followed by a plain van with the taxi sign on its roof.

It didn’t take long for the crowd to realize that the jolly man behind the wheel was just headed to work yesterday morning, probably forgetting that Beach Road would be closed off early in preparation of the parade.

Instead of getting frustrated after waiting in line for hours to get through, the taxi driver was a good sport and decided to honk and wave as he made his way through the parade route. (Kimberly B. Esmores)

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A parade wouldn’t be complete without a drunk man causing a commotion.

Fortunately, the commotion caused yesterday was a good one as a drunk man stopped passing parade floats to commend them for their hard work and creativity. The stop kind of delayed the parade a little but not by much.

Aside from stopping some of the floats, the man even decided to join some of the dancers who were part of the procession. Despite not knowing the dance, he still danced and got laughs out of the crowd and the parade participants. (Kimberly B. Esmores)

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One of the biggest number of marchers came from the NMI Football Association again. Football players, mostly youths, made the parade come alive as some showed off their skillful moves. Football has become a very popular sport on Saipan in the past few years. (Ferdie de la Torre)

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For the first time, the Legislature, through the House of Representatives, joined the Liberation Parade. On a small float were Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Reps. Ralph N. Yumul, Malcom Jason Omar, Julie Marie A. Ogo, Angelo A. Camacho, Manny Gregory T. Castro, and John Paul P. Sablan. The House float was the last in the line. The Senate did not join the parade as most of the senators are on leave or not on island. (Ferdie de la Torre)

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It was mostly cloudy and really muggy for the parade’s duration. Not only was it hot, but it was also humid. It usually rains during the annual Liberation Parade. But this time, not even a drizzle. (Ferdie de la Torre)

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Sporting different costumes, several audience members were also dressed for the occasion, with costumes ranging from the cultural to the traditional red, white, and blue.

One man mixed his culture and what resembled a reggae outfit and even a full-on wig and a wraparound. But because of the heat, while waiting for the event to start, he would remove the fake mane. (Chrystal Marino)

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While aboard one of the floats, it was during the wait time (pre-event) that a waft of evil odor blew in from one of the jungled masses of trees just on the side of road. One woman began sniffing a minty stick of gum so she wouldn’t be nauseous. (Chrystal Marino)

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Dozens of people perched on top of buildings, even abandoned ones, got a bird’s eye view of the Liberation Day Parade. (Chrystal Marino)

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A young woman, who desired to remain anonymous, shared with Saipan Tribune how she walked for almost two hours for three and a half miles (5.5 kilometers) just to witness the event. In the scorching heat, no less! (Chrystal Marino)

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Compared to last year’s parade attendees for the float, this year’s crowd was smaller by a couple of hundred people. (Chrystal Marino)

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According to several people, another great part about the Liberation Day parade is seeing people you haven’t seen in a while. Among the sentiments of “Happy July 4th!” you could hear “Long time no see!!!” (Chrystal Marino)

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Despite the scorching heat, House of Representatives Speaker Ed Villagomez stood on top of a Resiliency float with no shade but an umbrella. (Chrystal Marino)

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Possibly because the heat, dozens of people on, or a part of the floats, seemed to lose energy along the way, but as soon as they came near the judge’s podium, the smiles and energy were back! (Chrystal Marino)

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About an hour or two after the parade, and since there were no fireworks, the Beach Road sidewalks emptied quickly as people picked up their belongings to go home and enjoy the rest of their holiday. (Chrystal Marino)

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I realized as I covered the Liberation Day parade for the second year in a row that even though people have watched the parade many times over the years, they would still make their way down and bear the heat and rain just to celebrate. (Leigh Gases)

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It was nice to see the Liberation Day parade well covered by other media companies on Saipan—not only the local newspapers and KSPN. (Leigh Gases)

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The Liberation Day Committee had a shady tent that sold souvenirs of shirts and jerseys that bore the theme “Resiliency Rising” and the CNMI and American flags. They also gave out free drinks and food to the media and volunteers at the event, which was a big plus considering that it was a sweltering day. (Leigh Gases)

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The lieutenant governor was nowhere to be seen less than an hour into the parade. I asked some people at the grandstand area where he was but they said they did not know where he went. He didn’t return to see the parade finish. (Leigh Gases)

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At the end of the parade, as the dignitaries and VIPs at the grandstand shuffled their way out, I was making my way to the governor and mayor for a quick interview and to my amusement—they were both shimmying and dancing to the beat of the Liberation Day outro song for a good couple minutes before they were ready to be interviewed. (Leigh Gases)