Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A Fautasi race, cricket tournament, fishing tournament, farm fair and a marching band competition, are among the planned activities for the 2022 Flag Day, which Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo Ale announced at last Friday’s cabinet meeting, where Secretary of Samoan Affairs Mauga T. Asuega also spoke about the annual celebration.

The Samoan Affairs Office oversees this annual celebration and Talauega declared there will be one this year, and Flag Day committee meetings are already ongoing.

The official Flag Day date, April 17, falls on Easter Sunday this year and the committee plans to hold later that afternoon a Flag Day church service, with the flag raising ceremony set for Monday, April 18.

There are also plans for the traditional “fa’afiafiaga” but the committee has ongoing discussions on this matter.

Other planned activities: a cricket tournament, fautasi race, fishing tournament, farm fair, business fair, Arts Council annual Flag Day festival, and marching band competition. The committee also wants to hear from the local Education Department of whether the annual speech festival would be held during Flag Day week.

Talauega said that they are hoping that by the end of this month, plans are in place for the Flag Day events so that there are no questions on the Flag Day program and its activities.

He said the Samoa Prime Minister and other officials will be invited and it will probably be during this time that the Two-Samoa Talks will be held.

A Flag Day Committee meeting is scheduled for 11a.m. this week Thursday at the Governor’s Office conference room.

KVZK-TV started airing late last week, an announcement by Deputy Secretary of Samoan Affairs, Tauese Va’a Sunia, that there will be a fautasi race this year, as put forth by the governor. Tauese said the announcement has been made in advance so that villages have enough time to consider and prepare for participation. No other information was shared on this event.

Tauese also announced that registration for the Flag Day cricket tournament for both men’s and women’s divisions started Monday this week and closes on Jan. 21. A meeting with captains is set for Jan. 24th and the cricket league to begin on Jan. 30.

Flag Day celebrations in 2020 and 2021 were scaled back to a very minimum due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time, with no fautasi race or cricket tournaments.