The South Shore will be all abuzz this weekend with the start of the Koloa Plantation Days, the festival honoring the ethnic groups who migrated to Hawai‘i to work on the plantations. The event began as a community reunion in
The South Shore will be all abuzz this weekend with the start of the Koloa Plantation Days, the festival honoring the ethnic groups who migrated to Hawai‘i to work on the plantations.
The event began as a community reunion in the early 1980s to celebrate the first sugar plantation in Hawai‘i founded in Koloa in 1835. It has since grown to include visitors from throughout the state and beyond, and today is the largest annual festival on the island.
The nine-day festival will be filled with sports, games and food starting tomorrow with a tennis tournament at 9 a.m. and the Historic Hapa Road Walk at 10 a.m.
The celebrations will officially kick off with the 8th
annual Sunset Ho‘olaulea at the Sheraton Kauai Resort with entertainment from Brother Noland and the Papa‘a Bay Boys.
Sunday will be a day for miniature golf for those 13 years and younger, the Kiahuna Aloha Golf Tournament for juniors and adults and a Kiahuna clubhouse celebration at Joe’s on the Green.
Monday at 9 a.m. is the Makawehi Sand Dune Walk at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. The two-hour walk goes through the resort’s grounds to Keoneloa Beach with a guide pointing out ancient Hawaiian structures.
Highlights for the celebrations are the games for the kids and the American West Barrel Racing competition.
New to the celebrations is an outdoor movie presentation of “Paniolo O Hawai‘i” by the award-winning filmmaker Edgy Lee to be viewed on Wednesday on the Sheraton Kauai lawn at 7:30.
All the activities lead up to the grand celebration and
“Immigration Parade, Plantation Style” on Saturday, July 29.
It might seem odd to have two shy, humble people serving as the grand marshals for such an elaborate parade and event but Carole Nacian and Ernesto Paden are happy to represent all immigrants in this year’s Koloa Plantation Days.
“It was very humbling that they would offer this to me,” Nacian said. “I decided I would do this for my parents.”
This year’s celebrations also happen to coincide with the Filipino community’s centennial of the first group of workers who came here to work on the plantation.
Nacian’s parents were a part of a group who worked on the plantation. Nacian herself also worked on the plantation for five summers, working in the fields covering seed cane and carrying water. Nacian insists though that it’s all about the immigrants.
“I’m really representing them,” she said.
Nacian said she’s gone to the Koloa Plantation Days celebrations every year and has even marched in the parade representing other groups.
“This time I get to ride instead of walk,” she said.
But she said she isn’t nervous about being a co-grand marshal.
“I’m actually really excited that I will be the one there,” she said. “I think my family is going to be a group following my float.”
Paden isn’t nervous either. Like Nacian, he’s walked in the parade before.
“It was definitely a surprise when I was asked to this,” he said. “But I’m not nervous. We have everything all set up and ready for the parade.”
For detailed information, specific venues and times of events, visit www.koloa-plantationdays.com or call 822-0734.
• Lanaly Cabalo, lifestyle writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com
