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Pika Festival draws int’l guests
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- The Tinian hot pepper, locally called the donne sali, was celebrated last Saturday and Sunday for the 14th year at the Tinian Hot Pepper Festival on Tachogna Beach, Tinian. The pepper is considered the pride and joy of Tinian. (Photos By KIMBERLY A. BAUTISTA)
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- Most of the booths during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday and Sunday on Tachogna Beach were adorned with enormous hot peppers in honor of the island’s donne sali.
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- The youth of Tinian compete in the annual volleyball competition during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach.
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- Dignitaries at the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach stand for the posting of the colors by the Tinian High School drill team.
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- The Tinian High School drill team posted the colors during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachonga Beach, Tinian.
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- Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas, third from the left, and Agat Mayor Kevin Susuico, second from the right, sign the sisterhood agreement during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach.
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- Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas, far right, poses for a photo with Lailani Ikehara, middle, during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach on Tinian. Ikehara is the daughter of the late Ellen Fleming Ikehara, the originator of the Tinian Pika Festival.
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- The winners of the Pika 65K race pose for a photo during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach, Tinian.
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- Tinian High School volunteers serve the Pikalicious burger to the Pikalicious Burger eating competitors during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach, Tinian.
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- The Pikalicious Burger eating competition competitors race to finish the enormous pika-laced burgers during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach, Tinian.
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- The Pikalicious Burger eating competition champion Deborja Dela Cruz, far right, poses with Tinian Department of Commerce director Susan Cruz, middle, and MVA field operations supervisor Vida Borja during the 14th Annual Pika Festival last Saturday on Tachogna Beach.
TACHOGNA BEACH, Tinian—The 14th Annual Pika Festival drew not just island residents but also tourists from Saipan, Rota, Guam, and far-flung areas like California and Alaska.
The Pika Festival has always garnered the participation of CNMI residents, but this year, the festival was graced by the participation of Corona Councilman Randy Fox of California.
According to Fox, this was the first year he was able to visit the island and to join the festival and he was amazed by the island’s beauty and the kindness of the island’s residents.
The festival also brought in Agat representatives. During the festival’s opening ceremony, Agat Mayor Kevin Sucuico and Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas signed a sisterhood agreement.
Another highlight was the Pikalicious Burger eating competition. The enormous burgers were laced with a couple of Tinian hot peppers, making it nearly impossible to consume the entire burger, but Deborja Dela Cruz accomplished it. The eating contest had 12 competitors, the biggest batch of competitors in the festival’s history.
Throughout the two-day festival, entertainers from Saipan and Tinian provided live entertainment.
For the entirety of the festival, everyone was encouraged to join the many activities. There a hot pepper/soba eating contest, a beach volleyball competition, a “Kadun Pika” cooking contest, a canoe race, an arm wrestling competition, an umang race, a tug-of-war, a sack race, and more.
According to San Nicolas, this year’s Pika Festival is special because it celebrates the memory of the festival’s originator, Ellen Fleming Ikehara.
Lailani Ikehara, Ikehara’s daughter, said it was beautiful to see that the festival only continues to grow and continues to unite people of different ethnic backgrounds. Ikehara said it was what her mother always wanted and what she foresaw when she brought the idea of the Pika Festival to life.
