NAWILIWILI — A turn away crowd of more than 600 people jammed into the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club ballroom Saturday to “remember” the movie “Blue Hawai‘i” and Elvis Presley.
“We had to cut it off,” said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau. “If we had 800 tickets, we would’ve sold them all, but because of the space, we had to cut it short.”
One of the volunteers at the check-in desk said the goal was to have 500 people, but the phones started ringing like crazy on Friday and Saturday, the day of the celebration.
The celebration centered around the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawai‘i” becoming the first major motion picture to showcase Kaua‘i as Kaua‘i, triggering a wave of nationwide interest in the Garden Island, the interest continuing to this day, states a KVB release.
“We had a Blue Hawai‘i wedding Saturday,” said Larry Rivera, Kaua‘i entertainer and composer as well as coordinator for the popular wedding package. “The Elvis impersonator was on top and we have six travel writers viewing the event.”
Kanoho, in an email, said the KVB hosted a Romance Press Trip during the week with six travel writers, culminating with the “Kaua‘i Remembers Blue Hawai‘i” event.
The Blue Hawai‘i wedding coordinated by Rivera mimics the wedding scene in the “Blue Hawai‘i” film, which was filmed on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i in the spring of 1961, the film being released in November of that year and debuting on Kaua‘i in early 1962.
The final 20 minutes of the movie was filmed near and at the Coco Palms Resort. The film culminates with a famous lagoon wedding scene in which Elvis and his fiancé are carried to the chapel in a double-hulled canoe filled with tropical flowers.
“Blue Hawai‘i” was Elvis Presley’s eighth movie and his biggest commercial success, the release states.
The soundtrack of the movie featured 14 songs, the most ever in an Elvis Presley movie, including classics such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Hawaiian Wedding Song” and the title track, “Blue Hawai‘i.”
Kanoho said in addition to celebrating the “Blue Hawai‘i” film, which enjoyed an encore screening for the more than 600 people, the event also served to announce the 40th anniversary of Elvis’ “Aloha from Hawai‘i” concert, which will be held on O‘ahu in January 2013.
The event, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Kaua‘i Museum, was an opportunity to pay tribute to Grace Guslander of the Coco Palms Resort.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
