PO‘IPU — More than 100 keiki and their ‘ohana gathered Wednesday at the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation to participate in a cultural morning. Centered around traditional Hawaiian games enjoyed by keiki, guests were also treated to entertainment by Kalani and Momi,
PO‘IPU — More than 100 keiki and their ‘ohana gathered Wednesday at the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation to participate in a cultural morning.
Centered around traditional Hawaiian games enjoyed by keiki, guests were also treated to entertainment by Kalani and Momi, assorted hands-on crafts including the familiar lei-making, sand art and coconut frond weaving, and learning how to toss the traditional Hawaiian throw net.
Punctuating these activities, Antonia Lagundino, an employee with the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation, dug out her Filipino dress and with the help of Eduardo Cadavona and Orlando Ruiz, put on a demonstration of tinikling, a Filipino folk dance using two lengths of bamboo.
“This is a lot more than we expected,” said Gana Maheswaran, the Kiahuna assistant manager. “It’s so good to see so many resident and visiting keiki with their families enjoying themselves.”
Participants received a check card that when filled, entitled them to free shave ice and other treats.
“We have four main activity stations including the foot race, or kukini, coconut throwing, or kiloe niu, spear, or o‘olie, and the lawn bowling, or ulu maika,” Maheswaran said. “Plus Fernando Constantino is helping people with coconut weaving, and there are Kalani and Momi doing a great job with entertainment. This is a good way to just get out of the office and all those phone calls.”
Kiahuna Plantation volunteers said the publicity for this year’s event has been really good with signs visible from the road and throughout town, noting there were far more guests than just Kiahuna guests.
“We found out about this through the Internet when we visited the Koloa Plantation Days website,” said the mother of Isaac and Sarah Swedlow of Austin, Texas as Isaac took his turn throwing the net while Sarah enjoyed the shade with her newly created coconut visor. “We’re also planning on the Treats at Kaua‘i Culinary Market later.”
Visit www.koloaplantationdays.com for more information.
