PUHI — More than 1,000 people were expected to fill the Kilohana Carriage House Sunday during the Kaua‘i Lifeguards Association fundraising concert. “I won’t know how many people are coming, but we can have 1,100 people,” said Andy Melamed of
PUHI — More than 1,000 people were expected to fill the Kilohana Carriage House Sunday during the Kaua‘i Lifeguards Association fundraising concert.
“I won’t know how many people are coming, but we can have 1,100 people,” said Andy Melamed of The KQNG Radio Group and a key organizer of the KLA 2nd Wave Celebration. “Once everything gets settled, tonight, we’ll have a better idea of how we did.”
During the evening hosted by Ron Wiley, the KQNG on-air personality, and Dickie Chang of Wala‘au Productions and a Kaua‘i County Council member, guests could browse through a silent auction area which closed just prior to Willie K. taking the stage.
Many of the silent auction items had connections to the ocean, including a hand-carved ingrained wood paddle donated by Glenn Kojima and a C-4 Stand up paddleboard provided by C-4, Da Life and the Kaua‘i Beachboys. Other items included ocean-themed artwork.
Surf artist Steven Valiere waited patiently to start his live art, the artwork auctioned during the live auction headed by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., who was joined on his table by Capt. Nicholas Mongillo, commander of the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Mana, Randall Francisco, president of the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce, and Karen Ono of the Kaua‘i Board of Realtors.
“They don’t have too many tide calendars available,” said one shopper who stopped off to pick up a KLA tide calendar being handled by Rodney Pascua and featured works submitted by KQNG Radio listeners and readers of The Garden Island newspaper, everything being put together by Ron Kosen of PhotoSpectrum.
Billed as “Hawai‘i Superstar Sunday,” the KLA fundraiser featured musical greats John Cruz and Friends, Henry Kapono, Kalapana and Willie K., with Andy Bumatai doing the emcee duties.
The event is headed by a host of sponsors interested in promoting ocean safety and supporting Kaua‘i’s lifeguards, who received a round of standing ovation, led by Chang at the start of the program.
Visit www.kauailifeguards.org for more information, or to contribute to KLA.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
