PO‘IPU — There were supposed to be two groups of the county’s Summer Enrichment program children on hand.
But due to a mix-up in buses and permission forms, those children were unable to participate in the Koloa Plantation Days Hawaiian-style games that took place Wednesday morning on the grounds of the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation.
“This is our second year, so we got plenty practice,” one of the Kiahuna grounds volunteers chuckled while waiting for the children to make their way through an arena of five major events.
These included the kukini, or foot race, to start things off as youngsters sprinted towards a coconut-tree marker before rounding the tree and dashing home.
Troy Lazaro of the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club, one of the many volunteers on hand, explained that the kukini event was intended for women in the ancient Hawaiian days.
“They used that event to see who would be the messenger for the king,” Lazaro noted.
Other events included the ‘o‘o ihe, or spearthrowing, where wooden spears were tossed at targets constructed of fresh banana stalks. The ‘ulu maika, or stone-rolling game, involved youngsters releasing a disc constructed of concrete, with the goal of getting the disc to roll between two stakes that formed a target.
The kiloi niu, or coconut-toss, involved tossing coconuts for distance.
Lazaro, who was helping in the haka moa, or chicken fight, arena, was amused with the antics of the youngsters, who held one foot while hopping to either knock their opponent to the ground, or out of bounds, the majority of the combatants opting to try for the former.
Bevin Parker-Evans one of the Outrigger Kiahuna employees, said that Gana Maheshwaran, the resort’s manager, was the spearhead for the event that was hosted on the grounds of the Kiahuna Plantation.
But, Parker-Evans, noted, the Outrigger crew got a lot of help from employees of their neighbors, like Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club, the Sheraton Kauai Resort, whose workers provided the sound system, and other organizations.
Melinda Uohara, one of the Koloa Plantation Days celebration leaders, noted that they tried to make arrangements to have the Summer Enrichment keiki accommodated, but were unsuccessful.
However, she was pleased with the turnout that saw over a hundred youngsters dot the Kiahuna Plantation lawn in the various event stages, many of the local youngsters coming with their parents from Hanapepe to Anahola.
