Food, festivities, and fun were at the Guam Island Festival last Sunday. The event, hosted by the Guam Visitors Bureau was created to showcase the people, entertainment, and food of the different villages. Free trolley service was also available for tourists.
Last week’s tour was hosted at Lencho Park in Dededo across Santa Barbara Catholic Church.
PNC sits down with Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares who expressed her excitement with the return of the Guam Island Festival Tour along with the return of tourism.
Mayor Savares said, “This is a time where our economy is starting to grow back because as we know, Guam relies on our tourism and our military…. We hear a lot about people who lost their jobs in the hotel industry, well it’s opening back up because people are coming. So there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We see greener pastures.”
GVB staff were also at the event and gave us some insight as to why Dededo was chosen.
Dee Hernandez, GVB Director of Destination Development said, “This is the melting pot of Guam, really there’s a lot of multicultural here so we want them our tourists to check out the different cultures that we have.”
GVB Public Information Officer Josh Tyquiengco added, “They’re [tourists] very appreciative of the fact that they’re able to connect with our local community and immerse themselves in our local culture and have a taste of the food so really excited to see that and excited to see the turnout here.”
Former Dededo Vice Mayor Andrew Peter “Daigo” Benavente also expressed his excitement with the fiesta tour making its way to Dededo, “This is once in a lifetime and it’s so nice that the mayor, vice, and Uncle Carl brought this issue up.”
The next stop of the Guam Island Festival tour is still in the works. To know more, keep in touch with the Guam Visitors Bureau on Instagram at @visitguamusa.
Reach reporter Jannette Samson: jannette@spbguam.com
