Romang Tumbaga Peake came all the way from New York to eat ice cream Saturday during the Heritage of Aloha Ho‘olaule‘a that brought the nine-day Waimea Town Celebration to its final weekend.
Peake, along with her sister Carlina Vea, was among the field of entries in the 76-142 age group of the Super Duper II ice-cream-eating contest, and getting cheered by Lyndon Yamane and a group from the West Kaua‘i Methodist Church.
“They made me break my diet,” Peake said after raising her arms for being the first to finish the half pound of vanilla ice cream. “Now I gotta walk five miles to make up for this.”
Hundreds of people flowed through the area in the shadow of the fomer sugar mill, celebrating the arrival of the unique local-style food and craft vendors.
“We gotta keep the heritage going,” said Ku‘u Kanahele as he deftly flipped a Hawaiian pancake. “This is the real Hawaiian pancake. If we don’t do it, what’s going to happen?”
The West Kaua‘i Lions Club, anchored by coach Basilio “Bunga” Fuertes, had Lion Mike Tam working the wok of smoked meat for its plate offering.
“I only do this once a year,” Tam said. “I hope I didn’t forget how to do this. Let’s see, you start with salt, and then you have to mix it. We have more than 400 pounds of meat to work.”
State Senate President Ron Kouchi did not want to play favorites, but was on the prowl to satisfy his craving for flying saucers.
“This year, we’re honoring Aletha Kaohi, who organized the Paniolo Hat Lei Contest for many years,” said Puni Patrick, one of the celebration organizers. “We still have the different category winners, but in addition, there is one most beautiful overall dedicated to Kaua‘i ‘Iki (the late Dana Olores), one that is unique overall dedicated to Aletha Kaohi, and one grand champion lei.”
Janet Kahalekomo, a kupuna at the ‘Ele‘ele School, was deemed the grand champion for her creation using red mock orange berries mixed with tri-color ti leaves. Phylis Correa captured the Aletha Kaohi award, and Tommy Vidinha was named to the Kaua‘i ‘iki award.
“My grandson Braden Sanpei started doing lei when he was in the kindergarten,” said Vea, who finished with second and third awards in the unique adult category. “He’s now a sophomore at Waimea High School, and still making lei. I thought he might give up because he’s a boy, but I’m glad he’s still doing lei.”
Sanpei swept all three places in the unique grade 9 through 12 division, and picked up a first and third place in the beautiful grade 9 through 12 category.
Paniolo Hat Lei results
Grand Champion: Janet Kahalekomo;
Aletha Kaohi Award (unique overall): Phyllis Correa;
Kaua‘i ‘iki Award (beautiful overall): Tommy Vidinha;
Unique adult: Janet Kahalekomo, Carlina Vea, Carlina Vea;
Beautiful adult: Romang Tumbaga-Peake, Jan Matsukawa, Suzette Butler;
Unique grade 9 through 12: Braden Sanpei, Braden Sanpei, Braden Sanpei;
Beautiful grade 9 through 12: Braden Sanpei, Kaizen Castillo, Braden Sanpei;
Unique grade 6 through 8: Makaia Baniaga, Halia Albarado, Halia Albarado;
Beautiful grade 6 through 8: Halia Albarado, Halia Albarado;
Unique grade 3 through 5: Kaizey Castillo, Karie Kahalekomo-Smidth;
Beautiful grade 3 through 5: Karie Kahalekomo-Smidth, Krie Kahalekomo-Smidth, Kaizely Castillo;
Unique grade K through 2: Noa Rosario, Kananimelea Rosario, Mattea Topp;
Beautiful grade K through 2: Kananimelea Rosario, Noa Kahalekomo, Mattea Topp.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
