Marianas history conference draws hundreds

Hundreds fill the Fiesta Resort & Spa’s Hibiscus Hall last Saturday during the 3rd Historical Conference. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

This year’s edition of the Marianas history conference turned out to be one of the most successful ever, with hundreds of individuals showing up for in Garapan the weekend event.

Participants ranged from visitors coming from Guam and other parts of the world, to CNMI residents who wanted to be a part of the 3rd Marianas History Conference at the Hibiscus Hall of the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan.

According to Northern Marianas Humanities Council executive director Scott Russell, this year’s conference focused on key issues that affected both the Northern Marianas and Guam.

He expressed elation at the enthusiastic turnout.

“We had a lot of presenters. We had a great turnout. It went really well,” said Russell.

He said the entire Hibiscus Hall was so packed that a few individuals had to remain standing just to witness each speaker’s presentation.

“We had an overflow crowd yesterday morning [Friday]. We had almost close to 300 and we have a sizeable crowd today [Saturday]…we’re quite happy with the amount of people that came,” Russell said.

At the mixer prior to the conference, Russell expected to learn a lot from the conference and he confirmed this later, saying he picked up a lot of information from the many presenters throughout the two-day conference.

“It’s hard to summarize all the different presentations … I learned a lot from keynote [Julian] Aguon, there were points of law that I did not understand that he helped clarify,” said Russell.

Also present for the conference was Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chair L.J. Castro, who felt that the conference was too vital to miss such that the entire municipal council staff was present.

“All members of the municipal council are here. We’re all very passionate about culture and history, so we felt it was important for all of us to be here and listen to the scholars and what they had to present,” said Castro.

According to Castro, this isn’t the first historical conference that he has attended. Over five years ago, during the first historical conference, Castro was present and, according to him, the conference has always been about bringing historical events to the forefront and to share ideas and ways to face the issues that neighboring islands are also currently facing.

The conference lasted two days and showcased 36 different presentations.