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Olbes walks off with hat trophy in Sophia Walk
Helen Olbes, left, the 19th Annual Sophia Walk hat competition winner, poses with her handmade hat and former first lady Sophia Tenorio last Saturday at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan. (Kimberly A. Bautista)
The 19th Annual Sophia Walk that was held last Saturday featured, for the first time, a hat competition that was judged by former first lady Sophia Tenorio herself, for whom the walk was named after.
Out of over a hundred unique, hand-made hats, the Best Hat title went to Helen Olbes. Along with the title came a one-night stay at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan and dinner at Fiesta’s Tepanyakki Restaurant.
Her hat was a dark navy blue with a huge orange “Sophia” sewn into it across the front. The hat was also adorned with crystal-like stones formed into a latte stone.
Olbes also included tulle to represent ocean waves and butterflies to represent wisdom.
She said the creation of her hat took a few days but, besides the fact that her hard work paid off, she also ultimately enjoyed creating her winning hat.
“I just take some time to work on it after office hours, so it took me several days…I actually had fun creating this hat,” she said.
According to Tenorio, Olbes’ hat stood out because it was the only one that incorporated the term “Sophia” into the design.
Olbes said extensive research went into the creation of her hat, but its design was ultimately inspired by Tenorio herself.
“I was thinking of what I can create that shows it’s really meant for Sophia so I said, ‘I should put the name Sophia on the hat’ and because Sophia is from Saipan, I thought to add something that represents the islands, that’s why I included some [latte] stones,” she said.
“I also got curious as to what Sophia means, so I searched for its meaning and I saw that its biblical meaning is wisdom and I checked on the verse for wisdom and I was able to get Proverbs 9:10,” she added.
The hat competition was intended to spice up the event, with Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan coming up with the idea to include a fun competition for walkers to look forward to.
