HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — There will be no overnighting along the parade route, or a parade, for the 79th Liberation Day, but the Mayors’ Council of Guam has opted to keep celebrations going in a modified format as the island continues Typhoon Mawar recovery.
The Liberation Queen contest, a single World War II memorial commemoration, a block party and even a visit from one of the liberators who came to Guam back in 1944 will be among the festivities.
Putting on a full blowout wouldn’t be feasible, Piti Mayor Jesse Alig, president of the mayors’ council and chair of Liberation Day festivities, told his colleagues during a Wednesday meeting, where mayors ironed out the details of this year’s celebration.
“We must remember that there are still families out there that still don’t have water and definitely power. … A lot of us can identify more than a few pocket areas that don’t (have utilities),” he said, adding that 600 applicants for RISE UP are waiting to get a temporary roof over their heads.
But Alig said there must be some kind of celebration for residents to enjoy.
Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann, chair of the parade committee, recommended the parade be put off this year. He said it would be insensitive as a number of island residents still faced hardships and remained homeless post-Mawar.
He said hazards still existed along the parade route and most of the greenery that would normally deck out a village’s parade float had been destroyed in the storm. Hofmann’s motion passed without opposition from the other mayors.
Though the suffering the island endured during World War II will be commemorated, there will be only one memorial ceremony, rather than the usual 12 separate memorials. The motion to limit commemorations came from Hågat Mayor Kevin Susuico. It also was unopposed.
Susuico said the Hågat mayor’s office was informed the site of the Fena Massacre would be inaccessible due to the typhoon and that other memorial sites also are impossible to reach.
He said there’s nothing stopping individual mayors from hosting their own commemorations.
“If the respective districts would like to hold their own solemn memorial, that would be OK,” Susuico said.
Raffle tickets are being sold for the queen’s contest, said Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon Mayor Louise Rivera, and preparation for the event is mostly done. The mayors agreed to host a shortened contest.
Block party
According to Alig, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero has asked that a Mass, a memorial and then some sort of gathering take place on Liberation Day, a plan to which mayors agreed.
So far, the idea for the big get-together is taking the form of a block party, and the council agreed to ask the Department of CHamoru Affairs to utilize the now-empty concrete huts at Chamorro Village that were erected in 2016.
Food and other festivities could be provided and a light show still may be possible, Alig said.
“Fireworks and a drone show would be the big attraction,” he said. “That has to be in the consideration for the evening plans for the 21st.”
Alig insisted that if mayors are going to help put on the show, they have some sort of representation from each of the 19 villages. Different ideas for village representation, including village booths and a talent show with people from each of the villages, were floated. Mayors held off on making a final decision, pending approval of the availability of Chamorro Village.
An official from the Guam Visitors Bureau told mayors during the meeting that GVB is coordinating with the family of one Guam liberator, now 98 years old, to get him on the island for Liberation Day.
The color guard of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force marches in the 75th Liberation Day parade July 21, 2019, in Hagåtña.
