We made it!
Mahalo to all (there’re hundreds of you out there) the support crews from the agencies who worked to restore life to normalcy following the Christmas Eve pounding the island sustained from the passage of that low-pressure system eastward across the state.
Special mahalo to the county public information officers — Alden Alayvilla, Kim Tamaoka, Coco Zickos, Jason Fujinaka, Beth Tokioka and her Kauai Island Utility Cooperative crew (did Shelley Paik get to spend some quality Christmas time?), and Ron Wiley for keeping everyone connected so they could “shelter in place” (how about those visitors who arrived Christmas Eve and were not so lucky in getting to Princeville?) so crews could get the island cleaned up. And it’s not over yet because all of those who were lucky enough to get the Christmas holiday off went back to work yesterday to help clean up. Christmas morning sounded like the day after Hurricane Iniki with the symphony of chainsaws. Everyone had a hand in making this happen. New Year’s should hopefully be better. Erica Kleinfeld and Pacific Fireworks has a new site, this year at Hokulei Village in Puhi (they opened Thursday and will be there while supplies last).
Santa has left Santa’s Place at Kukui Grove Center, and in its aftermath, the snow princesses from Brenda Turville Biehler’s Showtime Characters are coming for a Princess Party Saturday from 3 p.m., where princesses from all over are welcome to celebrate the holiday decor this weekend (also last days for the Holiday Light Spectacular are today and Saturday!), and Elizabeth Freeman has the Festival of Lights on for one more time Saturday before you have to wait until the 2020 edition.
OK, it’s time to check out the Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls basketball Round 1 showdown.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
