LIHU‘E — Arnold Meister will host the free 11th Annual STEPS Parent Child Fair April 6 at the Kukui Grove Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Opening the event will be the Tsunami Taiko group, directed by Joanne Parongao
LIHU‘E — Arnold Meister will host the free 11th Annual STEPS Parent Child Fair April 6 at the Kukui Grove Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Opening the event will be the Tsunami Taiko group, directed by Joanne Parongao who also wears hats as the Waimea High School band director, the kumu for the Waimea High School Hawaiian dance class and more.
“We’ll be having the Tsunami Taiko perform ahead of the opening ceremonies at 10 a.m.,” Parongao said during a crowd-pleasing performance Sunday at the Prince Kuhio celebration at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa in Po‘ipu. “The taiko will ‘call’ people to the event at the Kukui Grove Center.”
Joining the Tsunami Taiko on the slate of entertainment, the Kapa‘a Middle School Choir and ‘Ukulele Band, recently earning two gold medals and a special “Maestro Award” at the Heritage Music Festival in Anaheim, California, will take the stage under the direction of its director Mary Lardizabal.
The Kalaheo Elementary School Band, unveiled during the recent blessing of the school’s Administration Building, under the direction of Marty Leonard, who also heads up the Waimea High School band, will have company from the Waimea High School Hawaiian Dance Class who performed during the March for Babies walk benefiting the March of Dimes.
Sponsored by the Department of Education, Kukui Grove Center and Grove Farm Co., the Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools (STEPS) will feature representatives and exhibits from the Ae Kamali‘i Preschool on Kress Street in Lihu‘e, the DOE preschools, Community Case Management Corp., Good Beginnings Alliance, Easter Seals of Hawai‘i-Kaua‘i Branch, Ho‘ola Lahui Hawai‘i, St. Theresa School, Tutu & Me traveling preschool, Kaua‘i Family magazine, P.A.T.C.H., Friends of the Children’s Justice Center, Child & Family Service — Head Start/Healthy Start, the Pacific Missile Range Facility Child Development Center, and more.
Participating groups include the Waimea High School Jr. ROTC, recently earning the right to advance to the national competition, Keiki Productions and Karen Dickinson rendering the National Anthem.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
