This year’s Kamehameha Day Parade is not only the first big floral parade in Lihu`e since 1991, it’s different because for the first time some non-Hawaiians have been invited to participate. To co-chairmen Edee Bandmann and Jack Wilhelm, “Bridging The
This year’s Kamehameha Day Parade is not only the first big floral parade in
Lihu`e since 1991, it’s different because for the first time some non-Hawaiians
have been invited to participate.
To co-chairmen Edee Bandmann and Jack
Wilhelm, “Bridging The World With Aloha,” the statewide theme decided
upon by the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission, meant that people from
other ethnic groups who also have the aloha spirit in their hearts, should be
included.
The people selected as Honorary Marshals for this year’s parade
will be riding in convertibles down Rice Street, Saturday, June 10.
Those
selected are: Dorothy Nakazawa; Jean Holmes; Georgia Mossman; Louie Almodova;
Nancy Fuller; Sachi Ikeda; Mary Thronas; Dede Wilhelm; and Raymond Aki. Also
named is Harold Aiu, who, as a newly-elected member of the Paniolo Hall of
Fame, will be on horseback.
Jean Holmes’ love affair with Kaua`i had its
beginning 35 years ago when she arrived to work as a reporter for The Garden
Island newspaper.
She soon became editor of the newspaper and during the
next 20 years she got to know and love the island’s people.
She was
responsible for opening up the pages of the newspaper to everyone, rich and
poor, of any nationality or background. All brides rated the same size picture,
whether their fathers were in management or part of the sabidong gang.
She
believed people were interested in what was happening to their neighbors all
around the island and baby’s first birthday, the grandparent’s golden
anniversary and church activities were recorded, and the faces of the
participants brightened the pages of The Garden Island.
Hawaiians and their
cultural activities were treated with respect and she insisted their beautiful
language be given the correct spelling and punctuation. And Jean is very proud
of her years of membership in the Womens Auxiliary to the Royal Order of
Kamehameha I, an honor seldom given to those not of Hawaiian blood.
When
she retired from the newspaper in 1984, there was an outpouring of letters
from readers/friends, visits to say aloha, mahalos from the people who had the
good fortune to work for her, and a large and wonderful hotel ballroom dinner
party in her honor.
After that retirement, she did a stint as news director
at what is now KQNG radio station, an entirely new medium (proof that old dogs
can learn new tricks).
After that retirement, Jean spent the next decade
teaching journalism at Kaua`i Community College, where her students basked in
the individual attention she gave each one of them.
She really retired
just last year, after her 81st birthday.
The culminating honor came last
June when she was named one of Kaua`i’s “Living Treasures,” where she
felt her cup of love and aloha, that being given and that being received, truly
runneth over.
“These certainly are not the only Kauaians who
demonstrate that people of all races and cultures can live together
harmoniously, but they are representative of that special quality known as the
spirit of aloha,” says Bandman.
Commentators will be JK and Melanie
(Hanohano) Tehada, on Rice Street near Vidinha Stadium, where the parade will
start at 10 a.m. Bill Dahle and Eloise Oclit will be the commentators on the
lawn of the old County Building, where the units will pass in review. O`ahu
judges will select the most outstanding pa`u riding units and awards will be
presented to the winning islands after the parade, between acts at the
ho`olaulea.
There will also be food and craft booths.
