Bring on the holidays!

Aida Kawamura was the winner of the Las Vegas trip giveaway, the first person following a list of people who did not respond in the rain-soaked, windy area of the Kukui Grove Center during the shopping center’s launch into the holiday season. Among the rules of the contest, sponsored by Kukui Grove Center, The Garden Island and Midweek newspapers, you had to be present to win.

Thousands of people, not counting those who were involved in post-Thanksgiving sales, turned out to watch the first of three holiday parades — the 26th Kauai Christmas Parade — that saw Santa make his yearly appearance aboard an all-terrain vehicle flanked by the support crew of Santa’s House.

Performers with the Aloha Dance Studio brightened the blustery night with their special guest appearance at the premiere of the mall’s Holiday Lights Spectacular that will run nightly starting Dec. 12.