Return of Full Carnival on the Table As Mayors Discuss Liberation Festivities

Guam’s mayors are considering bringing back a long-celebrated annual past time missing from the lexicon of Liberation festivities since the pandemic: the summer-long Liberation Carnival. The Mayors Council of Guam – the organizer of Liberation festivities – will be meeting this Wednesday, and likely will discuss options for a Liberation carnival, according to MCOG president Jesse Alig, mayor of Piti.

Liberation festivities lead up to and culminate with the July 21 Liberation Day Parade, which was a nearly uninterrupted tradition from 1945 until the Covid-19 pandemic forced social distancing (the parade was canceled in 1993 and 1997 due to two strong typhoons that struck shortly before the parade). Liberation Day, a local holiday, commemorates the July 21, 1944 landing of American armed forces in Guam to free the Chamorro people from two-and-a-half years of cruelty and slavery at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army.

According to an artificial intelligence search of historical records, the annual liberation carnival tradition began in the late 1940s as an event coinciding with the parade. But, by the 1950s, the carnival expanded to become a summer-long event with rides and games, food vendors, entertainment, cultural showcases, and even gambling. That tradition carried through to 2019 during the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Guam. The pandemic the following year ended the tradition.

Last year, according to Mr. Alig, the mayors brought back a scaled-down version of the tradition, with a small carnival over a three-day period held at the concrete pavilions fronting the Paseo de Susana in Hagatna.

This year, he said, the mayors are considering all options, including a summer-long carnival event with rides.

“It’s a lot of work, though,” Mr. Alig said, as he tried to temper expectations while assuring that the mayors have not closed the door on the idea.

He also said the mayors generally agree that the carnival would be located in Hagatna, and that they would bring back the color game and the beto beto concession, which were popular features for decades in the carnivals. Whether two other popular concessions of carnivals of past – bingo and a temporary casino parlor – would be included have yet to be discussed, he said.