KOLOA — Despite the brisk winds playing havoc at the Anne Knudsen Park Friday night, a record number of attendees turned out for the annual Koloa Plantation Days parade/ho‘olaule‘a Saturday. “This is the first time I’ve been in a parade,”
KOLOA — Despite the brisk winds playing havoc at the Anne Knudsen Park Friday night, a record number of attendees turned out for the annual Koloa Plantation Days parade/ho‘olaule‘a Saturday.
“This is the first time I’ve been in a parade,” said Christopher Ganaban of Wai‘anae, O‘ahu. Ganaban and his cousin Michael Ganaban, also of Wai‘anae, were given the opportunity to walk with the first kindergarten class at Koloa School.
“Papa is in the parade and he said we could walk with him,” Christopher said.
The colorful entourage was coordinated by Aunty Stella Burgess of the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i who comes out annually to support the finale of a week-long cultural celebration of the Koloa area.
Burgess was bashful of being the head of the parade.
“I tell them without them there is no parade,” she said from her golf cart. “They do all the work.”
Politicians took advantage of the collection of people to solicit votes, either in the parade as participants or as spectators and, later, attendees of the ho‘olaule‘a that followed the parade.
Smiles and merriment was the order of the day as Solomon Kanoho, volunteering for the Kamehameha Schools Association-Kaua‘i’s food booth, stepped out for a breath of fresh air.
“I’ve been cooking back there since early this morning,” he said. “And we’ve already gone past 400 plates in two hours. I need to take a break.”
But Kanoho was comfortable with the numbers, noting that even though their food supply was beginning to run low, based on the movement, it was going to be “just about right.”
The entire finale was pulled together by the hosting talents of Ron Wiley of KQNG radio who, before entering the parade, was providing on-air interviews and color. Dickie Chang of Wala‘au Productions had Bruce Smalling tie in their Wala‘au video into the Sueoka Store audio station and Brudda Branch Harmony anchored the audio fronting the Koloa Tennis Courts. Shelley Cobb of KSRF took care of the entertainment stage inside the park.
One visitor enjoying the event said it was pleasant to be celebrating immigration, this year’s theme, while on the Mainland, people are decrying immigration.
“But this is what makes Hawai‘i special,” she said.
