May is Tourism Month on Guam and what a busy month it will be for visitors and residents of our beautiful island! Sponsored by the Guam Visitors Bureau, May festivities kick off on May 1st and continue through the first weekend with a slate full of sports, theater, cultural song festivals, classic cars and a chili cook off. With so much to do on Guam this month, you�ll need extra hours in the day to get it all in

May 1st marks the beginning of Tourism Month and the date Guam�s first group of tourists arrived back in 1967. Guam is celebrating 40 years of tourism with a wide array of activities and May starts with a special Airport Greeting Service that includes refreshments from the ProStart Culinary Students and entertainment at the Guam International Airport. Also on May 1st, the Tourism Education Council will host a presentation featuring guest speaker Mr. Peter Apo, who will speak about the importance of developing a �sense of place� for travel destinations.

The first event of that weekend will have you saying �Advantage: Guam!� as tennis is served at the Hilton Resort & Spa. The 4th Annual Guam International Tennis Open takes place over two non-consecutive weekends, May 4 � 6 with matches in the 3.0, 4.0, and 35+ Masters Divisions and open division matches on May 16 � 20th. A $15,000 grand prize purse has attracted Guam�s top players and international competitors. Find more information about the 4th Annual Guam International Tennis Open at the official tournament website, www.guamopen.com

The evenings of May 4 and 5 will be filled with fun as the Theater Guam and KUAM host a female version of Neil Simon�s �The Odd Couple� for the benefit of the Guam Museum Foundation. Starring some of Guam�s finest actresses, like Karen Rocco Flores and Diane Isis Thurbur in the leading roles, the production will be held in the Pandanus Room at the Guam Reef Hotel. The theater style seating show begins at 6:30 pm and tickets are still on sale for $25.00. For information about ticket sales and reservations, call Karen Flores at (671) 689-6899 or Diane Thurbur at (671) 777-4747.

On Saturday, May 5th competitors will have one final chance to prepare for the bigger event at month�s end, by participating in the GEAR Sprint Series Race #5. The Guam Extreme Adventure Race will help participants answer the question: Are you tough enough?

One of Guam�s top radio stations hosts an island favorite with a new, or perhaps we should say, old twist. After nineteen years, Hit Radio 100�s highly anticipated car show, Auto Jam, has been renamed Auto Jam Old School Classic and is happening on Sunday, May 6th. The car show features classic vehicles done up in style so they look hotter now than when they first rolled off the assembly line. Held in the parking lot of the Paseo Stadium in Hatag�a, Auto Jam Old School Classic is free to the public and open from noon to 6 pm. Also new to Auto Jam is the Rick & Ronnie Big Chili Cookout, which takes place from 2 � 4 pm. Some of Guam�s best chefs will battle it out over the stove to see who can create the island�s best bowl of chili. Auto Jam Old School Classic guests can take part in the sampling for just $5, but make sure you have plenty of water on hand � these cooks aren�t kidding around! Hot, Muy Caliente, or in Guam�s native Chamorro language: Pika!

From the heat of a chili cook off to the cool waters of Tumon Bay, special events in May just keep surfacing. The weekend of May 18 through the 20th will see the final matches of the Guam International Tennis Open at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa tennis courts, but the morning of Saturday the 19th kicks off with three very different sporting events. The 76 � Ernst & Young Charity Golf Tournament will be held at the Leo Palace Resort in Yona for the benefit of the GMH Volunteers Association to purchase much needed medical equipment for Guam�s hospital, the Tourism Education Council, Public Radio for Guam KPRG, and the Guam Jr. Golf League. Last year the tournament raised over $27,000 for its beneficiaries and organizers are hoping to surpass that amount this year. For more information about the tournament, visit www.sppcorp.com

The next event is the 2007 Tumon Bay Ocean Swim, which includes three different races in the beautiful waters of the Tumon Bay Marine Preserve. The races include a 3200m course, an 800m course, and a 3 x 200m relay course. This the 4th year for the Tumon Bay Ocean Swim, which is sponsored by the Greater Pacific Aquatics, the Pacific Islands Club (PIC), Power Zone Sports, and the Guam Visitors Bureau. For more information, including how to register and course maps, log on to http://tumonbayoceanswim.homestead.com

The final event of the morning is the first annual Agat Mango Festival 5K Run/Walk through one of Guam�s prettiest seaside villages. Held as a prelude to the upcoming Agat Mango Festival the following weekend, the 5K Walk/Run will benefit youth sporting programs, off-island medical referrals, and other community projects in Agat. Everyone is invited to participate, from individuals to family teams of four, and registration is taking place at Hornet Sporting Goods in Tamuning and at the Agat Mayor�s Office. The 19th continues as one of the busiest days in May, from the morning�s sporting events to X-5, which begins 3 pm and lasts until 8pm on the rooftop of the world�s largest K-Mart in Tamuning. Featuring customized cars from Japan, Los Angeles, and Guam competing for trophies and prizes in a variety of categories. X-5 is much more than a car show, it will also includes Xtreme Girls, Xtreme Sounds, Xtreme Gear, and Xtreme Sports. Pro BMX riders from Japan are expected as part of the Xtreme Sports display and will feature a series of demonstrations showcasing the balance, skills, and discipline required of the sport. The audience can expect awe inspiring jumps, turns, and tricks all done with the rider�s feet never touching the ground. Tickets for X-5 are $10 for adults and $5 for children between 6-12 years old. X-5 is organized locally by Vertical Productions and sponsored by Heineken beer, the Outrigger Guam Resort, and Guam Visitors Bureau.

The following weekend, May 25 � 27, the Agat Municipal Planning Council will host the 1st Agat Mango Festival at Nimitz Beach Park, with support from the Guam Visitors Bureau. The coastal village of Agat in southern Guam is well known for its abundance of juicy mangoes and the Agat Mango Festival will teach people how to select and grow healthy mango trees, the basics for making juices, jams, pickles, preserves, dehydrated slices, pastries, and more. There will be a contest for the Biggest, Most Beautiful, and the Most Bizarre mangoes, plus arts & crafts booths, food, nightly entertainment and a canoe paddle race on the morning of the 26th. The Agat Mango Festival is destined to become a popular signature event for Guam and is aimed at providing fun for everyone with activities for the kids, a Mango Cookoff, and a special Mango Brunch. Being a tropical island paradise, special events on Guam never stray too far from the ocean and the final events of May both involve the sea! The annual Rota Race takes place the weekend of May 25 � 27 as Guam�s seaworthy captains take to the high seas in a sailboat race from Guam to the island of Rota to the north. Sailboats will face some of the strongest currents in the Mariana Islands between Guam and Rota with nothing but the wind and their sails to pull them through. The sight of boats making their return to Guam from Rota, pulled along by spinnakers full from ocean breezes, is enough to make anyone long for a life at sea! The final events of May both take place on May 27th, the first being the 20th Annual Manukai Cocos Challenge where athletes make the 2.5 mile open ocean swim across the Cocos Lagoon from Cocos Island to the shores of Malesso, Guam�s most southern village. The colors of the Cocos Lagoon are spectacular and frequented by pods of playful dolphin. It is easily one of the most gorgeous ocean swims and Guam hopes to see more athletes coming to the island to participate and practice, particularly as ocean swimming is now a recognized Olympic event that is steadily growing in worldwide popularity.

Happening simultaneously is one of the toughest competitions any athlete will ever face, the 7th annual Guam Extreme Adventure Race, or GEAR7. Combining a multitude of disciplines, like trekking, mountain biking, coasteering, paddling, orienteering, and an open ocean swim, however, the most important discipline will be teamwork. The course for this 24-race is kept top secret until the morning of the 27th and to qualify all four members of a team must complete the entire race. The last day to register for the grueling, endurance testing, GEAR7 is April 30, 2007. For more information, visit their website at www.guamextremeadventurerace.com

While everyday on Guam feels like summer, the season really begins in June with more athletic events, cultural activities, and seaside concerts all leading up to the opening of the Liberation Day carnival, which lasts until August. The first big event of June is the 22nd Most Beautiful Race in southern Guam on the 9th. Coordinated by the Guam Running Club, the race begins at Ft. Soledad in Umatac, the village where Magellan is purported to have landed in 1521, and runs through the hills to Merizo Pier and on to the Malesso Kombento, which built in 1856 as quarters for the parish priest, is the oldest building on Guam. Racers continue past the Kombento up in to the hills of Merizo and on. For more information about the Most Beautiful Race, visit www.guamrunningclub.com Gef Pa�go Chamorro Cultural Village will host its Gadao Cultural Camp for children age 6 up to adults. The camp takes place in Historic Inalahan from June 11 to the 29th, 9 am to 12 noon and includes a variety of cultural activities, such as Chamorro language lessons through song and traditional craft activities, like coconut leaf weaving, fiber cord making for shell necklaces, carving, preparation of Chamorro food such as titiyas, ahu, laulau, and coconut candy, and how to throw traditional fishnets, or talaya. Participants can also hike to Gadao�s Cave, where some of Guam�s most famous petroglyphs are still intact. The Gadao drawings are over 500 years old, dating back to pre-Spanish contact. For more information about the Gadao Cultural Camp, visit www.gefpago.org or call (671) 828-7246/7.

The FIM-UAM/Pacific Minibike Championships will be held on June 23rd and 24th and entry to this exciting event is free to the public. Guam will host its 5th UAM Supercross Championship Race, in conjunction with the Pacific Minibike Championships at the Jose & Hermenia Calvo Memorial Raceway Park in the northern village of Yigo. The Asian Supercross championship Series is a world-class motorcycling event held in different countries several times a year, featuring top riders from all over Asia and the Pacific, including Guam. To participate in competition, you must be a member of the Guam Motorcycle & ATV Corporation (GMAC), which requires an annual fee of $25 USD and allows participation in all GMAC events. For more information about the event and how to register, check out their website at www.atvmotocross.com

From the roar of the track to the melodic sounds of local musicians, there is a lot happening this June weekend. Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy some of the island�s best music as the Mt. Carmel Alumni and Endowment Foundation presents a beachside concert at Nimitz Beach in scenic Agat. Tickets are $10 and will benefit the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic School. For more information, please call the Alumni Foundation at (671) 565-6257.

One of the most annually anticipated events on Guam, the Liberation Day Carnival, opens on June 29th and lasts until August 5th. With rides, game booths, refreshments, and a whole lot of fun, including live entertainment and more, everyone has a great time at the Liberation Day Carnival. The carnival is the first event of the annual Guam Big Summer Festival and the good times continue throughout the season.

With so many events scheduled for families and children, it makes perfect sense that the final event for June is the Guam Soap Box Derby. The Soap Box Derby is a youth racing program that has been an American favorite since 1934. Boys and girls as young as eight years old race cars they build from kits purchased from the All American Soap Box Derby. It�s a wonderful family project and the winner of the Guam Soap Box Derby will fly to Akron, Ohio to compete in the All American Soap Box Derby on July 21st, against the best in the nation. The Guam Soap Box Derby takes place at the Guam International Raceway Park and for more information, contact Camille Denight at camille@denight.com

For more information about activities happening on Guam, log on to the Activities page of the GVB website at www.visitguam.org

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Media Contact: Cindy Hanson chanson@visitguam.org 671-646-5278