The venue for the 16th Annual Tinian Hot Pepper Festival on Feb. 15-16, 2020, has been confirmed for the fiesta grounds in San Jose village. <\/p>\n
Event organizer Marianas Visitors Authority and co-sponsor Tinian Mayor\u2019s Office have agreed to have the festival at the same location as last year\u2019s due to the convenience and amenities of the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a couple of great locations where we have held the Tinian Hot Pepper Festival in the past,\u201d said MVA managing director Priscilla M. Iakopo. \u201cThis year we\u2019re bringing the event back to last year\u2019s venue at the fiesta grounds in San Jose, which has booths, picnic pavilions, and, of course, the breathtaking Kammer Beach. It\u2019s also right next door to the House of Taga, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and a \u2018must-see\u2019 for visitors to the Marianas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The festival, affectionately knowns as \u201cPika Fest\u201d among locals (pika means spicy), pays homage to Tinian\u2019s small but famous donne sali hot pepper. Activities will include dances, bands, and other live entertainment; cooking competitions, indigenous craft sales; and more. Festivalgoers will have the chance to purchase a variety of local dishes, join the umang (hermit crab) races, participate in sports activities, and join the hot pepper eating competition itself. In addition, the 65K Pika Bike Race on Feb. 15 will begin at 6am. <\/p>\n
Details on a ferry schedule between Saipan and Tinian will be announced once confirmed. Air service between Saipan and Tinian is provided by Star Marianas and takes 15 minutes. Airport shuttle will be offered by the MVA to and from the festival site.<\/p>\n
Accommodations are available at Tinian Ocean View, Lorilynn\u2019s Hotel, Tinian Street Motel, Fleming Hotel, Green Lion House Hotel, and the Marpo Valley Inn. Free camping is available at Kammer Beach, Taga Beach (toilets, barbecue pits, and outdoor showers available) and at the adjacent Tachogna Beach (toilets, barbecue pits, and indoor showers available). <\/p>\n
\u201cTinian is a very comfortable place for camping, and we invite visitors to make a weekend of it at one of our local beaches,\u201d said MVA Tinian field operations supervisor Vida Borja \u201cPika Fest is a great opportunity for schools and other groups to take a short but memorable camping trip, and we look forward to welcoming all our visitors to the beautiful island of Tinian.\u201d (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The venue for the 16th Annual Tinian Hot Pepper Festival on Feb. 15-16, 2020, has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":309809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15630],"class_list":["post-315462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-hot-pepper-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315462","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=315462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}