LIHUE — Keith Ruiz of Oceanic Time Warner Cable did not have to be at the lawn of the Historic County Building Monday. “I have been doing this from the very first one,” Ruiz said. “I have seniority so I
LIHUE — Keith Ruiz of Oceanic Time Warner Cable did not have to be at the lawn of the Historic County Building Monday.
“I have been doing this from the very first one,” Ruiz said. “I have seniority so I don’t have to be here — we could send someone else. But this is not hard work, and when you see all the happy faces when the lights come on, I guess I’ll keep doing this.”
Ruiz was one of the volunteer crews, including the Kauai Fire Department, and Scott Otto from the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.
Elizabeth Freeman, chair of the Festival of Lights, said the 2015 Festival of Lights got off to a great start on the decoration creation process over the weekend at the storage facility inside the Piikoi Building, Lihue Civic Center.
“We had 24 teens from both Kauai High School Academy of Hospitality and Tourism, the Kapaa High School Interact Club, and the Kapaa High School Key Club sharing their amazing creativity,” Freeman said. “This year, we’re creating a new tree — the Rainbow Tree.”
During the weekend, volunteers Jan and Peter Sterne of the South Shore stopped off to pick up the donated lunches from the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa for the volunteers.
The work crew also included seven men from the Life Time Stance program at the Kauai Community Correctional Center unpacking, preparing, and repairing material from last year’s event.
Everything comes together starting at 6 p.m. Dec. 4 when Lois Ricciardi directs the Kauai Chorale in its first holiday performance followed by the lighting countdown led by Santa.
The lights go on followed by the Rotary Club of Kauai’s Lights on Rice holiday parade.
