THIS year’s Liberation Day may not be as festive as the previous year’s celebrations. There are only two candidates for Miss Liberation Day 2002, only 12 vendors at the festival site, and “a handful of entertainers.”
Key officials of the Liberation Day Committee, including its overall chairman, have also resigned.
Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela attributed the low turnout to the economic crisis.
He said many families wanted to field candidates for the pageant. “The problem is that…this is about fund-raising,” Tudela said.
He is still hoping that interested vendors and entertainers will come forward at the last minute, when the stalls are already in place at American Memorial Park.
“Every vendor and entertainer (become) interested when it’s already too late. But we will still accept them,” Tudela said.
Tony Moreham, the committee’s overall chairman, has resigned, along with subcommittee heads Jack Hardy and Joe Limes.
In his May 22 letter to the committee, Hardy said, “The committee needs to look long and hard at making adaptations for 2002. With only two candidates for queen, a dozen vendors and only a handful of entertainers committed to the celebration, it will be impossible to conduct an event that resembles previous years.”
Moreham and Limes resigned because of other pressing concerns and project assignments, according to Tudela.
Sources said some of the officials resigned because Tudela wanted to be the signatory for all the checks that would be issued. Tudela denied this. “That’s not the case,” he said.
Despite the resignations, Tudela said the committee “still has people interested in taking over.”
