by Michele Catahay

Guam - The 4th Annual Mango Festival kicked-off today at the Sagan Besita in Agat. Residents flocked to the village to taste the various mango delicacies such as donuts, pickled mango and barbeque marination, just to name a few.

Chamoru master carver Robert Taitano says he is using the bark of the mango tree to carve these items, telling KUAM News, "Somebody told me to cut down the mango tree from the yard, so I cut this and I said, 'Hey, I'm going to use that for the mango festival.' I'm doing this because it's the mango festival."

The festival also highlighted mangos in different categories. Mangilao resident Ron Pangelinan entered the biggest mango contest. "This mango is naturally grown. No fertilizers were added. My dad calls it the Pangelinan line, but the stray is a Mexican line. It has no hair and the seed is very thin. The stray is loose and so one mango can fill the whole family after dinner. But it's very sweet and very mungi," he said.

The festival concludes tomorrow.