KEKAHA — “I helped,” said Kaina Aviguetero, a kindergartner at the St. Theresa’s School Wednesday afternoon. “We made streamers.”
His mother, Sharla Aviguetero, was in charge of the flying saucers, preparing the stacks of trays containing bread delivered to the cafeteria ahead of the St. Theresa’s School carnival.
“I’ve done the carnival before,” said Wendy Castillo, the school’s principal, “but this is the first year I’m actually working the carnival. Everyone works so well with each other.”
Duke Lang is the chairman for the two-day event which opens from 6 to 11 each night and is the school’s biggest fundraiser.
“We’ll have the food booths with carnival food,” Castillo said. “But we also have special offerings like the flying saucers, loco moco, and pork, peas and pimentos.”
Castillo said the shirola is also a special feature of the St. Theresa’s carnival similar to the cake walk where more than 40 cakes will be featured each night. For a nominal donation, cake aficionados are allowed to walk around the selection of cakes before sitting in a chair connected to the cake of their choice.
There will also be a country store featuring baked goods, crafts, and homegrown plants and produce.
Entertainment will open with students singing “America the Beautiful,” Castillo said.
The students will be followed by the Cub Scouts from a Kekaha pack who will render the national anthem. Other entertainment feature the Limited Edition, Taste of Harmony, and Kekoa Kane and Friends on Friday night.
Saturday night entertainment goes to Kauai Country Western Dance Group, the Los Kauaianos, Kekoa Kane and the Taste of Harmony.
“We want to send shoutouts to Brandon Moises and the Waimea High School sports teams,” Lang said. “They are so efficient and helped erect all of the tents housing the games and activities. We also want to thank the Kauai Community College carpentry students who created the stairs to the reefer (a large Matson shipping container). We definitely wouldn’t be this far along in preparations without them.”
Camille Hesapene has been helping at the carnival for 25 years.
“There is still a lot that needs to be done — the bread (for the flying saucers) need to be buttered,” she said. “We get a big delivery of food stuffs Thursday and then, we need to set up the rice cookers. The secret to good food is cooking small batches of rice each day. It needs to be hot to make the food taste good. And, it cannot be soggy. There is a lot of work to be done, but in a short time, it’ll be over.”
