LIHU‘E — How do you process — give candy, healthy snacks and premium giveaways — more than 200 keiki ages 4 and younger in an hour that was allocated for the annual Wilcox Medical Center Keiki Halloween parade on Tuesday?
“It’s not impossible,” said the panel of judges, which included three Kaua‘i Medical Center physicians who efficiently screened the seemingly unending stream of costumed characters, many with accompanying dressed up parents and tutu for a frenzied hour on the day of the pumpkin.
Keiki paraded before a gauntlet of trick or treat stations, which included a number of Barbie booths distributing trick or treat goodies like candy, healthy snacks and even Wilcox Medical Center keiki-sized shirts.
The Family Practice Barbie was selected as the winner of the employee costume contest. Second place honors belonged to the Quality Department as Under the Sea with the Hocus Pocus witches from Imaging Department tying with the Pharmacy as Jurassic Park.
“The parade starts right outside the lobby area and along the main entrance walkway. Once they read the end of the walkway, they move to the Kaua‘i Medical building and finish by passing the judges’ panel,” said Faith Campbell, director of marketing and special projects of Wilcox Health.
“Once that’s completed, everyone returns to the conference room for refreshments and voting for their favorite department-created jack-o’-lanterns. We also have more than a hundred free pumpkins that were provided by the Harvest Festival people as part of the Ha‘ena-to-Hanalei distribution.”
The larger-than-expected crowd indicated how far people have returned to normalcy after the COVID-19 virus, which, at one point during the pandemic, restricted the parade to virtual status. The return to normalcy pleased Wilcox Medical Center president and CEO Jen Chahanovich, who was touring the array of trick or treat dispensaries.
A Transformer caught the eye of judges as standing out from the unending flow of characters, ranging from butterflies, dinosaurs, and even a laulau that earned third place judging from the hourlong flow of characters. Pebbles of the Flintstones fame drove off in her wagon with runner-up honors.
As quickly as the parade started, the cavalcade of people disappeared into the world laden with bags of treats, and of course, a free pumpkin from the Harvest Festival.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
