{"id":260446,"date":"2017-09-18T06:02:21","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T20:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=260446"},"modified":"2017-09-18T06:02:21","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T20:02:21","slug":"rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Rota festival highlights coconuts\u2019 value"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-260446 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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix1\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260447'>\n\t\t\t\tParticipants in the coconut husking contest show their skills. (Bea Cabrera)\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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix2\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260448'>\n\t\t\t\tContestants in the coconut grating race to the finish. (Bea Cabrera)\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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix3\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix3<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260449'>\n\t\t\t\tYoung boys show their talent in singing at the Rota Coconut Festival held Saturday. (Bea Cabrera)\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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix4\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix4<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260450'>\n\t\t\t\tPersonnel of the Rota Department of Public Safety helped organize the festival. (Bea Cabrera)\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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix5\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix5<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260451'>\n\t\t\t\tVendors provide food and drinks for the crowd. (Bea Cabrera)\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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix6\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix6<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260452'>\n\t\t\t\tA judge tastes one of the dishes at the Rota best coconut dish contest. (Bea Cabrera)\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\/rota-festival-highlights-coconuts-value\/rota-coconuts-pix7\/'>Rota-coconuts-pix7<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-260453'>\n\t\t\t\tThese two women show off their best coconut dish entry. (Bea Cabrera)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>ROTA\u2014The island of Rota celebrated the 3rd Luta Coconut Festival over the weekend, highlighting the tree\u2019s deep role in the lives of the people of  Rota and the varied dishes that are nourished and made tastier by its fruit.<\/p>\n<p>From root to tips, the coconut tree is not just a tree of life but also a way of life and this year\u2019s festival was no different, with a theme\u2014\u201cCoconut for You and Me\u201d\u2014that seeks to pass knowledge and appreciation of the tree to the next generation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea is to continue to promote and encourage the kids to protect our coconut trees and to make use of it,  and to expand it by planting new seeds because there are a lot of ways that people can make money out of it,\u201d said special assistant for program and grants Aubey Hocog.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just want to find different ways and  provide opportunities for the community to use the resources that we have on island to better the lives of the families on Rota,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The festival, celebrated this year from Sept. 12 to 16, is the 3rd time that the Coconut Festival was celebrated on Rota.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Coconut Festival started with the former mayor [Joseph S.] Inos and our current mayor wanted to\u2026continue that  tradition\u2026because this event has been proven to be a great way to promote the uses and benefits of the coconut, not only to the current generation but also to our younger generation,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n<p>The Coconut Festival this year is not only a one-day affair. The people of Rota have made it a weeklong affair to be able to do different activities that appeal to them.<\/p>\n<p>According to Hocog,  this year is a weeklong event that started with a proclamation signing last Sept 12.  The following day, schools, the Rota municipal government  and government agencies involved were given designated sites where they planted coconut seedlings. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was so to continue to expand the population of coconut trees on Rota,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn Wednesday, we encouraged all our youth and  people to wear something made out of coconut, whether it\u2019s a skirt, a purse, or a hat or even just to hold maybe a little decoration that is made out of the coconut to show how resourceful we can be.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Last Friday, children got to show off their talents and skills by joining a series of musical competitions. <\/p>\n<p>According to Hocog, each governement department either had a demonstration or exhibit on what they can make out of coconut. \u201cWe had all the students from the schools watch, learn and  participate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, the final day of the festival, showcased competitions such as coconut husking, grating, presentation of dishes made with coconut milk, a coconut crab race, and the culmination and judging of the coconut fashion show that was held last Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fashion  show was the most exciting event. People lookied forward to it. We [drew] 11 creative participants. This is the category where we encourage kids to make use of the coconuts as part of their wardrobe. The kids are excited as it lets them be creative,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will end the festival with the awarding of the winners,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cRota is isolated compared to Saipan and Tinian so we try to find very unique opportunities for people  to come because Rota has a lot to offer. We try to increase the desire for people to come and visit,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROTA\u2014The island of Rota celebrated the 3rd Luta Coconut Festival over the weekend, highlighting the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":260447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[163,21,18330,67],"class_list":["post-260446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-kids","tag-life","tag-luta-coconut-festival","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260446","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\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}