{"id":200304,"date":"2015-04-28T18:25:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T08:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=200304"},"modified":"2015-04-28T18:25:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T08:25:55","slug":"34th-flame-tree-arts-festival-closes-to-a-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/34th-flame-tree-arts-festival-closes-to-a-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"34th Flame Tree Arts Festival closes to a crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite rain showers over the weekend, the 34th Annual Flame Tree Arts Festival picked up where it left of. Over 25 artists and entertainers graced the festival\u2019s stage during the four-night, two-day event. About 50 vendors participated, selling art and food.<\/p>\n

Hundreds visited the festival over the weekend. As the festival closed late Sunday night, a sizeable crowd was still gathered around the stage area.
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\"These<\/a>
These Refalawasch Warrior performers got the crowd cheering with their passion during the closing night of the 34th Flame Tree Arts Festival at the Civic Center in Susupe. (Dennis B. Chan)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Festival committee chair Parker Yobei called the festival \u201csuccessful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad we had a good turnout even if the weather wasn\u2019t cooperating. I\u2019m glad to see the community come out and enjoy themselves,\u201d he said in an interview around 10:30pm Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole event itself was a highlight,\u201d he added. \u201cAll the artists came up with new designs. It\u2019s a pleasure for me to help [Commonwealth Council of Arts and Culture] executive director Angel Hocog with the festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hocog, Yobei, and other council members said it was great to learn about each other\u2019s culture, noting how the community seemed to enjoy it too.<\/p>\n

Hocog, Yobei, and other CCAC staff facilitated the event that saw major sponsors Delta Air Lines, Best Sunshine, Marianas Visitors Authority, Bridge Capital, Bank of Guam, IT&E, and Coca-Cola contribute.<\/p>\n

Refaluwasch and Chamorro performances closed the festival\u2019s last night.<\/p>\n

Simiyan Manainata performers gave the crowd something \u201ceternal\u201d with their dance, drawing from \u201cpre-contact\u201d and \u201cbefore Western civilization,\u201d said Simiyan Manainata\u2019s LJ Castro.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlowers bloom, flowers wilt\u2026 but culture is eternal,\u201d Castro said.<\/p>\n

Carolinian dancers from Tanapag and then dancers from the south of the island performed near 11pm to a cheering crowd of family and friends and other community members.<\/p>\n

Throughout the weekend, the festival featured entertainment from Out of the Ordinary Band, Flame Tree Angel, Flores Sinser, Blue Dream BAND, Baby PJ, Rising Tide, Rhythm and Harmony, Blue Drling, Saipan Manta Ray Band, Poksai Guma Chamorro, Hopwood Junior High School, CAB Dancers, Uncle Ben\u2019s Music and Dance, Blue Dragon, Anna Glushko\u2019s Academy, Te Kanehau Nui, Saipan Music and Dance School, Sumiya Manainata, Luis Laforte, JJ Concepcion and the TRU Marianas, Pua Hinano, Awaodori CNMI Team, Alana Ia, Blue Dream Band, Pacific Flower, Refaluwasch Warriors, Big J Selepeo, and Parker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite rain showers over the weekend, the 34th Annual Flame Tree Arts Festival picked up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":200306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[4179,4180,4181,4182],"class_list":["post-200304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-blue-drling","tag-poksai-guma-chamorro","tag-rising-tide","tag-simiyan-manainata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}