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15th Tinian Hot Pepper Festival on Feb. 16-17
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Posted on Dec 31 2018
Tinian youth performing indigenous Chamorro dances draw a crowd at the 13th Annual Tinian Hot Pepper Festival in 2017 in the Marianas. The Marianas Visitors Authority will hold the 15th Annual Tinian Hot Pepper Festival on Feb. 16-17, 2019. (MVA)
The 15th Annual Tinian Hot Pepper Festival will be held over Presidents Day weekend on Feb. 16-17, 2019.
Activities will include the 65K Pika Bike Race on Feb. 16 at 6am beginning at the festival site at Kammer Beach, cooking competitions, indigenous craft sales, and live entertainment, including cultural dances.
Festivalgoers can sample a variety of local dishes, catch the umang (hermit crab) races, join sports activities (including beach volleyball), or join the hot-pepper eating competition itself.
“In consideration of the effects of Super Typhoon Yutu, there will be a few changes to this year’s celebration,” said Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Christopher A. Concepcion. “As our Tinian crop of donni sali (hot pepper) is not available, we are expanding the festival to cover anything spicy, including other species of donni hot pepper grown outside Tinian. As they say, the show must go on, and coming together in February will be good for the community and good for business [on] Tinian. We’re looking forward to it, we’ve got some new and exciting contests in the works, and we thank our partners for joining us in this demonstration of the #MarianasSTRONG spirit following the typhoon.”
The event is sponsored by the Tinian Mayor’s Office and MVA members. At this time, available hotels on island are Tinian Ocean View and Lorilynn’s Hotel. Air service from Saipan to Tinian is provided by Star Marianas. Airport shuttle will be offered by the MVA to and from the festival site.
Tinian is accessible within minutes of Saipan via airplane. For more information, contact the MVA Tinian office at 433-9365 or e-mail at vborja@mymarianas.com. (PR)
