The Fourth of July went off island-style with family, food and fun — not to mention fireworks. Starting as early as Friday, visitors flocked to the island in droves as the Garden Island Racing Association hosted its 33rd Annual races
The Fourth of July went off island-style with family, food and fun — not to mention fireworks.
Starting as early as Friday, visitors flocked to the island in droves as the Garden Island Racing Association hosted its 33rd Annual races over the weekend in Mana.
One spectator at a nearby baseball tournament in Waimea said the parking overflowed the Mana Raceway Complex onto the access road leading to the raceway.
Throughout the island, the rumble of motorcycles punctuated the activities as caravans of riders were seen at the different events taking place in celebration of the Fourth of July. One island resident estimated that at least three containers of bikes arrived via Young Brothers barges for the annual get-together.
“We came into this blind,” said Marina Octavio while manning a food booth at the Stars and Stripes celebration taking place at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Mana Monday evening.
Lines of people snaked around pockets of families that enjoyed the waning light of sunset as they prepared for the pyrotechnic display while enjoying the sounds of the Papa‘a Bay Boys.
“This is our first time so we didn’t know how to prepare,” Octavio said as she pressed her husband Zack, normally the Kaua‘i Island manager for American Medical Response, into service frying eggs for the seemingly unending orders for Loco Moco bowls.
In the next booth, Kaua‘i Police Department officer Patrick Balbarino had just come off shift and joined up with Susan Cox who was helping at the Kaulupono Girls food booth at the PMRF celebration.
“The girls aren’t here because they’re playing in the (KYBA girls basketball) tournament in Kalaheo,” Cox said. “But, we’re here and the only thing that’s left is the chicken papaya.”
Funds from their booth would help defray expenses when the Kaulupono Girls travel to a tournament in Las Vegas and O‘ahu in the near future, Cox said.
Earlier, the booth had Spam musubi, teriyaki and the chicken plate, but with over an hour to go until the fireworks show, things were selling out fast.
“We sold out of the Mexican pizza real fast,” Octavio said.
Tom Clements of the PMRF Public Affairs Office said the beer garden and beverage sales directly benefit the base and were being sold through Shenanigan’s, the on-base restaurant.
“There’s definitely more people here this year,” Clements said. “Last year, the people were pretty much gathered by one end of the softball field. This year, they’re spread out everywhere.”
Tara Culbertson of the PMRF MWR program said they had planned for about 2,500 people to attend the Monday night celebration.
“This is more than last year, and by the time the fireworks go off, I think we’ll be there,” Culbertson said.
The base softball fields later proved to be the best spot to view the pyrotechnic displays put on by Ben Pascual and the Hawai‘i Explosive & Pyrotechnics firm of the Big Island.
As part of her duty for organizing the event, Culbertson donned a hard hat over her Jeep cap and with a grin said, “I get to light the first fuse.”
Outside the confines of the Navy base, hundreds of cars peppered the roadsides, beaches and beach park from as far as Kekaha where their occupants could enjoy the show without entering the base.
In Lihu‘e, organizers for the Kaua‘i Hospice “Concert in the Sky” anticipated between 8,000 to 10,000 people attending their annual fundraiser which had been relocated to the North Vidinha soccer fields to preserve the recently-installed rubberized track.
Special parking restrictions on Rice Street from Ace Hardware up through the Kaua‘i Museum were in force Tuesday to facilitate the movement of traffic out of Vidinha Stadium following last night’s fireworks display.
During the daylight hours, Ed Kawamura and the Kaua‘i Veterans Council opened up the Kaua‘i Veterans Center on Kapule Highway so veterans and their families could enjoy the day with other veterans and get some information on benefits while enjoying a meal courtesy of the KVC.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
