LIHU‘E — A few folds and cut to a letter-sized sheet of paper, and voila — magic, said Victoria Lam of Little Miso Bookmobile at Kukui Grove Center on Saturday.
“You have to have the vocalizations,” Lam said. “It adds to the magic of the origami piece that, once demonstrated, can be folded and put away in your pocket.”
Lam was just one of more than 30 vendors and exhibitors who offered interactive free activities spread throughout the shopping center during the Kaua‘i Parent and Child Fair that opened to a surge of participants anxious to register their children and families.
Alice Luck, the executive director of Kaua‘i Planning &Action Alliance, home of the Kaua‘i Resilience Project, was kept busy throughout the four-hour tour, strapping on wristbands to registered participants, fielding questions and greeting community members who stopped to check out the activities.
That included a range of local, theme-oriented entertainment, like the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Choir and ‘Ukulele Band, keiki from the Punana Leo Preschool, the Kapa‘a Middle School Choir and ‘Ukulele Band, Tsunami Taiko and more.
She was speechless from the excitement when retired educator Jeannie Odo stopped to reunite with her state Department of Education people who included acting Kaua‘i Area Complex Superintendent Daniel Hamada, who stopped off at the camp of Kapa‘a High School Principal Tommy John Cox in the center’s food court.
Odo started the event with community partners 18 years ago, as the DOE’s Sequenced Transition to Education in Public Schools (STEPS) program coordinator, with the goal of connecting parents and keiki to the resources available to them as they transition from home life to school, where the young ones remain as students until at least 18 years old.
The audience was not just limited to community members, as players and parents from the Hanapepe community baseball program, the ongoing Kaua‘i Soccer Association Saturday games and others flocked to participate in the interactive activities in different areas of the shopping center.
“I’m trying to get Winnie the Pooh and Tigger to the center stage,” said Brenda Biehler Turville of Showtime Characters, which hosts the twice-monthly Toddler Tuesday program at the center. “They need some excitement, but as you can see, we can’t even get there.”
Interactivity, and the experience of parents helping their keiki get the most of the interactive stations, was a definite highlight, as families bonded over the keiki’s enjoyment of the different exhibit stations.
“This is the Kaua‘i ‘Ohana Resource Kiosk come to life,” said Melissa McFerrin Warrack of Kukui Grove Center. “All of the materials shoppers pick up on a normal day now has a friendly face to it.”
The KORK was manned by state Department of Health Kaua‘i District Health Office and Kaua‘i Resilience Project personnel, both organizations being part of the event planning committee.
Jean Souza, of the Kaua‘i Ocean Discovery, said more educational events are on tap this week, when Kalaheo School is arranging for a field trip to Kaua‘i Ocean Discovery and other Kukui Grove tenants.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
