Liberation Day to be celebrated for a week

Mayor Donald Flores changed his mind anew and scrapped his previous announcement regarding a one-day celebration of Liberation Day, the largest community event in the Commonwealth slated for next month, saying that the festivities will be for a week.

Citing the lack of appropriation and support from the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, Flores said during a media briefing at his conference room last May 25 that the event, commemorating the liberation of Camp Susupe from the atrocities of war, will be celebrated on July 4 instead of the traditional monthlong festivities.

But Flores, during an interview Friday, said that he has decided to go back to his earlier plan of hosting a weeklong observance of Liberation Day.

“I really want to just stay with one week that I have considered because one day, to me, is very short for this honorable day to celebrate. With the support of the [Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos] on this, I seriously considered one week,” he told reporters at the Saipan Seventh-day Adventist School 30th anniversary program.

Flores said the weeklong celebration will start on June 28, a Thursday, and will culminate on July 4 when the customary Fourth of July parade and program take place.

The June 28 starting date, however, still remains to be finalized since Liberation Day festivities will be held at the Garapan Fishing Base, which currently hosts the Garapan Street Market on Thursdays.

“If we cannot work together with the Street Market, then we will celebrate it [starting] Friday. [until] Wednesday. When we reach that time, we’ll decide if we’re going to be extending it,” added Flores.

Flores disclosed that the Liberation Day committee plans to work on a $25,000 budget for the event “but we would be aggressively seeking donations and encouraging businesses to help us out.”

He said this amount will come from the committee’s solicitation and fundraising efforts, including one that aims to operate gambling games, patterned after Rotary Club of Saipan’s Las Vegas Night, to be conducted throughout the festivities.

Flores said they also plan to ask for in-kind contributions from various government agencies. For example, they plan to borrow from the Marianas Visitors Authority the stage used at the recently concluded Taste of the Marianas and from the Hopwood Jr. High School to lend them a sound system.

There will also be additional funds generated through the fees to be charged on vendors that want to set sell their merchandise at the festival grounds or the ticket sales of the Liberation Queen candidates, he added.

“We also encourage. everybody to come and join hands and celebrate this,” said Flores.

The mayor emphasized, though, that he will “not going to bother” the Legislature regarding Liberation Day funding.

“If they want to help, if they want to join the community in this important and honorable event-this is an honorable event for this island. This is an honorable even that I wish they stand up and support,” he said.

According to Flores, he already has the support of Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos, who will work on asking regulatory agencies to waive the fees for the Liberation Day committee, which would give them “a lot” of savings.

Inos, in a separate interview, pointed out that his role in the efforts would be “to help facilitate” the waiving of fees.

“Where I come in is I want to see working with them to make sure that the cost is kept to a minimum and we can engage the private sector participation,” he said.

Inos expressed his support for the week-long celebration of Liberation Day which he underlined as a tradition in the island community.

“I think that celebrating it is appropriate and I think we should all continue to do that,” said Inos. “It’s a tradition. The local community essentially expects that some kind of celebration would take place. I don’t want to disappoint the community.”

Inos called on the lawmakers to support “the one single event that majority of the people look forward to.”

He cited the Legislature’s efforts to provide funding for specific groups or events in the community such as the fishing derby “and it’s okay.” Inos noted that the Liberation Day celebration is “for the enjoyment of the entire community.”

“If it doesn’t take much in terms of the financial drain in the public funds when we do that [why not?]. It’s for everybody,” added Inos.