{"id":240892,"date":"2016-11-18T06:06:07","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T20:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=240892"},"modified":"2016-11-18T06:06:07","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T20:06:07","slug":"magical-display-christmas-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/magical-display-christmas-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Magical display at the \u2018Christmas Village\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Structures<\/a>
Structures began to form as Imperial Pacific International, Ltd.\u2019s Corporate Social Responsibility team prepares for the Nov. 27 unveiling of the \u201cChristmas Village,\u201d a primary undertaking headed by the First Lady Diann Torres Foundation. (IPI-CSR PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An extraordinary seasonal attraction in time to ring in the Christmas holiday is in the works for the First Lady Diann Torres Foundation and its partners. For the very first time, a \u201cChristmas Village\u201d will rise next to the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center and spread holiday cheer in the CNMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cChristmas Village\u201d will open on Nov. 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and will run through Jan. 8. There will be a cluster of\u00a0miniature houses and barns and buildings bedecked in lights\u00a0and festive Christmas decor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, former\u00a0first lady [Josie Fitial] had\u00a0the traditional\u00a0tree lighting\u00a0that we\u00a0enjoyed from year to year,\u201d said first lady Diann Tudela Torres. \u201cWe attended it last year and it was the signature event during Christmas season that was initiated by first lady Josie. This time, being my first\u00a0year\u00a0as first lady, I wanted to kick it up a notch. We have gone through a devastation and we want to lift up the spirits of everybody; the economy is getting better. \u2026Since the holiday season is really short, we want\u00a0to take advantage of that and lift everyone\u2019s\u00a0spirits\u00a0at least within that short period of time. Several ideas have been\u00a0thrown in but the Christmas Village\u00a0stood out the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

The First Lady Diann Torres Foundation initially partnered with Imperial Pacific International, Ltd. and the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library for the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to branch out and get a few other partners to help us with logistics and invited the Governor\u2019s Office to be part of this. We want to have something for everybody, the entire community and even our tourists, a place to come and relax and enjoy the lights,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n

Imperial Pacific Corporate Social Responsibility executive director Geri Dela Cruz acknowledged that this undertaking has created a unique partnership. <\/p>\n

\u201cBSI-CSR is extremely excited about the upcoming Christmas Village. Many different agencies have partnered with our first lady Diann Torres. It\u2019s a wonderful idea to create a hub in which the local community and visitors can go and enjoy the spirit of the holidays,\u201d Dela Cruz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBSI-CSR is not only involved in the logistics of this undertaking, but we will be participating and creating our own display as well,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The Department of Public Safety will be in charge of turning\u00a0the lights on and off\u00a0daily and for security. <\/p>\n

Torres said that they plan to hold events\u00a0in the weekends and even a few throughout\u00a0the week, including performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will invite someone to sing, a Christmas carol group, a dance, just something really small and cozy. We will have a couple of vendors of simple finger foods, like ice cream, snow cones, maybe barbecue sticks but no sit-down dinner, just food on the go. This is an event where the community can come and take pictures, bring the kids and the whole family, and just enjoy.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An extraordinary seasonal attraction in time to ring in the Christmas holiday is in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":240893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8562,14337,6990,9661],"class_list":["post-240892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-christmas-village","tag-diann-tudela-torres","tag-geri-dela-cruz","tag-imperial-pacific-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240892","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}