Suna Kurtoglu, right, and her father, Orhan Kurtoglu, pose with their mwars at the Marianas Flower Festival.
Mary Sablan creates floral art for Suna Kurtoglu.
ON Friday, April 5, hundreds of local residents gathered at Sugar King Park in Garapan to participate in the Marianas Flower Festival, a community event organized by Local Girls Marianas in collaboration with the Saipan Mayor’s Office and PalmTrio670.
Local Girls Marianas cofounders Ashley Pangelinan and Tiara Deleon Guerrero said the event celebrated floral artists ahead of graduation season so they could gain more exposure.
Tanya Salas, one of the participating floral arts vendors, said graduation season is a “busy” time for floral artists like her.
Salas runs Tahine’s Creations as a full-time job. She said this is why she tries to participate in as many community events as she can, such as the Carolinian Affairs Office’s Project Lifang, or various public markets like the Marianas Flower Festival and the upcoming Flame Tree Arts Festival.
“I have to work really hard,” Salas said. “I’m not only doing mwar, I make jewelry, I sell lavalava. It’s not just flowers, but I put a lot of time into making mwars and jewelry.”
Salas said one mwar can take as long as 28 minutes to create. On the low end, she can sell a mwar for $12. A more labor-intensive mwar or a mwar that needs more materials can drive the price up to $50.
Although Salas can make mwars and leis with fresh flowers or leaves, she also uses artificial materials. She pointed out that artificial floral art is not cheap.
“Some people want to put lettering and I have to design those,” she said. “[Or they want to incorporate numbers like 2024] and I have to put that on the lei, so it’s more costly for me. I have to use more materials and spend more time [making it].”
Maria Sablan has been operating Flores De Maria since graduating from high school. She was born and raised on Saipan, but has moved to Guam. She shared her perspective on how floral art sales compare between the islands.
Sablan said she has access to more raw materials on Saipan, but faces less competition on Guam.
“Especially on Guam not many people make fresh flower crowns and leis,” she added.
She said her graduation season sales on Guam is more profitable than on Saipan.
On Saipan, “I can definitely do more here because I have more materials. They’re at my house or my auntie’s house. On Guam it’s hard to find fresh flowers and leaves since I live in a central area,” she said.
Nevertheless, Sablan is able to leverage social media to sell her art.
“It’s [a 24-hour business] because it’s online,” she said. “People can make orders anytime.”
She said the prices for mwars range from $25 to $70, depending on whether the customer prefers local or imported flowers.
The prices of leis range between $15 and $20, depending on the amount of labor and the kinds of flowers incorporated into the lei.
For his part, Saipan Mayor RB Camacho was pleased with the event.
“I’m proud to see this large number of people around here,” he said. “As the mayor for this community, this is the type of program that I really want to showcase who we are and what we are. The island is a diverse community. [The Marianas Flower Festival] shows we have talent.”
He hopes that the Marianas Flower Festival will be held again in the future.
Tiara Deleon Guerrero and Ashley Pangelinan, the co-founders of Local Girls Marianas, said they would like to make the festival an annual event.
“We are feeling a mix of excitement and gratitude now that the Marianas Flower Festival has concluded,” Pangelinan said. “It was such an amazing event, and we are so grateful for everyone that attended.”
Deleon Guerrero, who was with Pangelinan to sell lemonade during the festival, said: “I am grateful the festival was a success. I just wish I was able to go around a bit more, but it was really busy at our [lemonade] booth, which of course is a good thing.”
The pair thanked Pride Marianas, Marpac, TurnKey Solutions, Tropical Instant Press, Come Play With Us Pet Services, Saipan Ice & Water and Demetrius Video for the “love and support.”
Saipan Mayor RB Camacho lends his office’s support to the Marianas Flower Festival.
PalmTrio670 — Jefferson Mateo, Loyd Lely and Louvicki Camacho — are excited to host “Shooktober.”
Floral artist Tanya Salas, right, says community events like the Marianas Flower Festival keep her busy.
