Just like last year, a flower arrangement competition highlights the annual event. But to up the ante this year, BTA invited a world-renown Ikebana artist to facilitate a flower arrangement workshop.
“For our 2nd annual Belau Blooms event, the Japan embassy helped us locate Eiji Otsuka, expert Ikebana Sensei, who will be sharing his expertise on Ikebana with us,” Tova Harel, BTA Vice-President, said in an interview. “Otsuka is a very famous Ikebana artist.”
The Ikebana workshop will be held on September 11. The first session will be at 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning. The second session is at 3:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon at the Belau National Museum. Participation fee is $10 per person.
“The art of Ikebana is a special Japanese flower arranging technique,” Harel said. “It expresses relationship to nature using as few elements as possible.”
With the theme, “Rainbow’s End,” this year’s flower arrangement competition will be held the following day, September 12, at 3:00 to 6:00 in the evening also at the Belau National Museum. Contest entry fee per arrangement is $20, and tickets for the event are available at $5 per person.
“We encourage participants to use local and natural materials, no imported flowers,” Harel added. “They can use woods, shells, bamboos as accessories.” She said they learned from experience in the past where some participants brought really expensive vases. “It’s good to showcase natural materials,” she added.
BTA encourages involvement from state officers and flower aficionados. Harel said they can just enter their flower arrangements according to criteria and let the judges decide. “The theme, ‘Rainbow’s end,’ is a concept that each one of us can see and interpret differently,” she said.
Grand prize for the contest is $100, first prize is $75 and 2nd prize is $50.
Asked how they came up with the annual event, Harel said, “We all love flowers, and we wanted to recognize what we have and enhance it.” Harel added that the event is part of the community outreach program of BTA, as well as fundraising for Palau Community College’s Palau Tourism & Hospitality School of Excellence.
BTA is expecting about 50 participants this year. “Last year it was very successful,” Harel said. “People were very creative.”
Just like last year, the flowers will be auctioned. Proceeds will go to the BTA fundraising for the Palau Tourism & Hospitality School of Excellence.
Continental Airlines, the Belau National Museum, BTA and its members sponsor the event. For more information, contact Mari Kishigawa at 775-7733 or Tova Harel at 488-2637.
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