LIHU‘E — Most of the stores at the Kukui Grove Center have the option of spending Thanksgiving with their families. said Melissa McFerrin Warrack, the special events coordinator at Kukui Grove.
“We’re opening early on Friday starting at 8 a.m.,” said McFerrin Warrack.
The early opening provides support for the many Black Friday specials that will be presented by a lot of the shopping center’s tenants, who will be joining the many other retailers on Kaua‘i with deals on what has been described in other media as the biggest shopping day of the year.
A highlight of the two-day, post-turkey celebration is the opening of Santa’s House and Candy Cane Lane starting at 11 a.m. Santa’s House will be available for photos with Santa from Friday through Christmas Eve. Exact store hours are available at the entry to Santa’s House.
Saturday marks the highlight of the two-day weekend, when Kukui Grove premieres its annual Holiday Light Show featuring the Aloha Dance Studio performers dancing to music and lights spectacular starting at 7 p.m.
“We want to focus on families and fun for the holidays,” McFerrin Warrack said. “Prior to the lights going on, more than just entertainment, we have at least a half-dozen, family-friendly activity stations, including the very popular Holiday Slime.”
These activity stations, and the stream of entertainment — which includes the Kalaheo Elementary School Sunshine Express, a longtime participant in The Kaua‘i Christmas Parade, the Kapa‘a Middle School Choir and ‘Ukulele Band, and the Aloha Dance Studio — starts at 5 p.m. and runs to the Holiday Light Show.
Saturday is also Small Business Saturday, which was previewed on Monday when the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau and Kukui Grove celebrated the third anniversary of the weekly Pau Hana Market.
Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau President Laurie Ho said farmers participating in Pau Hana Market are all small businesses, so championing Small Business Saturday with Small Business Development Center’s Robbie Melton is a no-brainer.
Joining the celebration on Saturday, Kukui Grove will host more than a dozen vendors from the county’s Kaua‘i Made program, including the popular Jules of the ‘Aina that was a very active participant during the recent Hanapepe’s Biggest Little Carnival.
Joining the Kaua‘i Made lineup of vendors, MeFerrin Warrack said through the efforts of Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami and the county’s Office of Economic Development, Kaua‘i has an opportunity to support Maui in the island’s recovery efforts from the wildfires.
“We’ll have eight vendors from Maui joining the Kaua‘i Made vendors offering their holiday specials to the people of Kaua‘i,” McFerrin Warrack said.
Small Business Saturday runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout Kukui Grove Shopping Center.
