The finale of A.B.L.E’s (Agency for Better Living Endeavors) Moso’oi Festival of the Arts on Saturday was a fun-filled day of celebration, learning, and family at Utulei Beach Park.
The morning started off with a swap meet coordinated by Rotaract Club of Pago Pago, which featured a variety of local vendors selling a wide range of goods: clothing, jewelry, housewares, food and many more.
While the swap meet was buzzing with shoppers, free Moso’oi Artreach workshops on the culture, language and different crafts were held in the Utulei Beach fales.
The workshops covered making palefuiono or traditional headband, making ula with ti leaves, weaving, creative writing, carving and making locally handcrafted jewelry.
There were also sessions on permanent makeup & eyebrows.
Participants were excited to learn a new skill and were very grateful to the presenters.
And what’s a festival without food? The beach was lined with food vendors selling BBQ, poke, fast food and Samoan, Filipino, Fijian, Korean, and Mexican dishes.
At 6 pm, the entertainment began with a pre-show that wowed the crowd even in the pouring rain.
Entertainers were Vashley Mulitalo, Keila Toafa, Etuale Sefika and dance groups ‘Auga Faapae, Logoi Alisi I le Atua o Samoa Ki Mua Dance Group, Pavaiai 2nd Relief Society and Tama’ita’i o le Taulaga Ola.
And then, the highly anticipated finale production of the Moso’oi Festival, “O le Nanamu a le Mosooi.”
It featured 35 students from Tafuna High School, Nuuuli Vocational Technical High School, Samoana High School, Faasao Marist High School and the American Samoa Community College. The production was led by Moso’oi team choreographers, Leia Tasi, Charisma Fano and Eterei Sala; writers and producers, Gabby Faaiuaso and Ammon Fepuleai; as well as costume designer, Isabella AhMu Mageo.
Even in the pouring rain, the show prevailed!
The crowd was mesmerized by the songs, dances, humor which told a love story.
Those who couldn’t be at Utulei, watched the online stream by KVZK-TV.
It was a fitting end to a month of festivities, which included the Moso’oi Premiere, the Moso’oi Gala and the Miss Moso’oi scholarship pageant.
The Amerika Samoa Humanities Council provided most of the financial support for the A.B.L.E. Mosooi Festival.
Humanities Council Executive Director Tauaisafune Niualama Taifane, in her opening remarks Saturday, shared the vision of the council to promote the Samoan language and culture through arts and humanities projects, especially this ninth.
The Humanities Council gave additional funding to assist A.B.L.E. with festival expenses and designated the A.B.L.E. Moso’oi Festival of the Arts, the representative project for American Samoa during this month of National Month of Arts & Humanities, “an honorable designation.”
A.B.L.E. board member and project lead, Ammon Fepuleai, accepted the additional assistance with much gratitude from the entire family of artists and volunteers.
Organizers were proud of what the festival achieved. 
“The ABLE Moso’oi Festival of Arts provided platforms for our local artists to share their talents and showcase their abilities. A highlight of this year’s festival is the emphasis on youth and volunteer participation. From the building of sets and props, to producing and performing a full show, the wonderful creatives that worked on this year’s festival pulled no punches; and the wonderful student volunteers helped make it all possible. All this is in line with the mission of the Agency for Better Living Endeavors, Inc. A 501C3 non-profit community organization that was founded in 2004 by HC Afoa Lutu, to work towards improving lives for our people.”
