{"id":231495,"date":"2016-07-05T06:07:01","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T20:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=231495"},"modified":"2016-07-05T06:07:01","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T20:07:01","slug":"community-enjoys-longest-libday-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/community-enjoys-longest-libday-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"Community enjoys longest LibDay Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-231495 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/community-enjoys-longest-libday-parade\/libday-pix-main\/'>LibDay-pix-main<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-231523'>\n\t\t\t\tThe Matua Riders kicked things off in the 71st Liberation Day Parade yesterday. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/community-enjoys-longest-libday-parade\/libday-pix-inset\/'>LibDay-pix-inset<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-231522'>\n\t\t\t\tA B-52 Stratofortress bomber flies by as part of the festivities of yesterday\u2019s Liberation Day Parade. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/community-enjoys-longest-libday-parade\/parade-pix\/'>Parade-pix<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-231521'>\n\t\t\t\tGov. Ralph DLG Torres, Lt. Gov. Victor Hocog, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Imperial Pacific International Holdings majority shareholder Margaret Cui Lijie, and Best Sunshine International, Ltd. chief executive officer Mark Brown met at the starting point of the CNMI 71st Liberation Day Parade yesterday morning. (Contributed Photo)\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The roaring sounds of motorcycles ridden by the Matua Riders caught the attention of the crowd that lined up along Beach Road, signaling the start of the 71st CNMI Liberation Day Parade\u2014the biggest party and community event in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n<p>The Matua Riders came out in full force on their Harley Davidson motorcycles while some chose to join on their big bikes or ATVs in yesterday\u2019s parade, which could be the longest in the history of the annual event.<\/p>\n<p>Except for two incidents where two CNMI JROTC members fainted, the parade went on smoothly. The Japanese Society of Saipan again carried the banner asking the community for any information about missing sisters Natsuki and Chinatsu Yamada.<\/p>\n<p>CNMI Liberation Day parade and float subcommittee chair Joe Palacios said they finally heaved a sigh of relief as it didn\u2019t rain. There was a weather disturbance south of the CNMI, in Guam, that could have brought rain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing that we are thankful for is it is really a nice day. There was no rain just cloudy, which is a beautiful weather for the parade,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thank the whole community, from those who were involved and helped in the planning to those who came out to cheer everyone and celebrate with us. This could have been the longest since there are more participants this year,\u201d added Palacios.<\/p>\n<p>Midway through the parade, the crowd erupted in cheers and applause after a B-52 Stratofortress bomber made a flyby. The United States Army Band also marched in the parade, while war veterans were on board two military trucks. Visiting delegates from Korea and Japan also joined in the festivities.<\/p>\n<p>Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang thanked Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Admiral Bette Bolivar for making the flyby happen. \u201cPeople enjoyed today\u2019s festivities especially the flyby. We thank Admiral Bolivar for making that possible. Thank you too to the Army band for coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur friends from Korea and Japan came all the way out here to participate in the parade. I personally wanted to thank all participants, the businesses, individuals, and the families that supported us in this event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Apatang added that this is also the first time in the parade that a lot of government departments and agencies participated. \u201cThank you too to Gov. [Ralph DLG] Torres and Lt. Gov. [Victor B.] Hocog for supporting us and making sure the departments and other agencies come out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Torres said the parade showed how diverse the community in the CNMI is now. \u201cWe appreciate the diversity that we have in our islands. Celebrating July 4 gives us the freedom to enjoy such diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis parade would be the longest and probably one of the most beautiful weather that we had in a long time. It was cloudy and not that hot, importantly no rain. I\u2019m glad everyone came out to watch and enjoy the festivities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>CNMI Liberation Day Queen Christine Roque, Royal Princess Coryn A. Achas, and First Princess Cornessa M. Dela Cruz said yesterday\u2019s event is the community\u2019s way of giving thanks to the people who fought to enjoy the freedom that we enjoy today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is our way of honoring the history of our islands. People get to celebrate freely and the way they want to thanks to those who fought to give us the freedom that we enjoy today,\u201d said Roque, who joined the Royal Court in stopping for a while at the 13 Fishermen Monument to lay flowers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me this is the day when Camp Susupe was opened for the people to live freely,\u201d said Acahas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the time where we come all together to celebrate,\u201d added Dela Cruz.<\/p>\n<p>Liberation Day executive committee chair Chris Leon Guerrero, Liberation Day non-profit group president Louis Rogers, Japan Consul Toshio Matsumura and his wife Kiyoko, Philippine honorary consul to the CNMI Eli Arago, Korean Association president Hong Kyun Kim, Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chair Antonio Tudela, vice chair Alice Igitol, and Sec. Lareina Camacho were some of the VIPs who joined the parade.<\/p>\n<p>Rain cancelled last night\u2019s fireworks and it will be held on Saturday, the closing of the carnival.<\/p>\n<p>Organizers said the list of winners of the float competition was not available as of press time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The roaring sounds of motorcycles ridden by the Matua Riders caught the attention of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":231521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[191,7134,271,67],"class_list":["post-231495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-dela-cruz","tag-korean-association","tag-liberation-day","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231495","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}