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Apatang wants full-blown LibDay 2021
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Posted on Mar 12 2021
While last year’s Fourth of July Liberation Day celebration was a one-day very limited on-the-ground celebration due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang wants a full-blown but controlled celebration this year.
In line with this, Apatang is pushing for five consecutive evenings of activities at the Garapan Fishing Base and a full-day celebration on the Fourth of July, instead of the traditional nine-day festivities.
Apatang has asked COVID-19 Task Force chair Warren F. Villagomez and Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muna for approval and guidance on how to make this happen.
The Liberation Day festivity is traditionally held in the days leading up to the July 4 parade.
In his letter to Villagomez and Muña, the mayor is proposing to have the Fourth of July celebration end with a parade by mid-afternoon and then close with a spectacular fireworks show at 10pm.
Apatang said that, similar to past celebrations, crowd control has always been the biggest item on the agenda when planning and carrying out the Fourth of July Liberation Day Festival.
“Granting us the go-signal to have an on-the-ground celebration this year will require that we multiply our crowd control efforts by at least two-fold to assure the safety of the public,” he said.
The mayor said the 2020 celebration was a drastic scaled-down version of the ones the people have become accustomed to because of the pandemic that reared its head early last year.
Last year’s celebration was held at the airport field in Dandan, with Tinian and Rota joining virtually.
