LIHU’E – Due to the ongoing road construction work along Rice Street, Kaua’i will have to wait until 2003 to celebrate the recently revived tradition of the King Kamehameha Day parade. Kaua’i was the only island not conquered by Kamehameha,
LIHU’E – Due to the ongoing road construction work along Rice Street, Kaua’i will have to wait until 2003 to celebrate the recently revived tradition of the King Kamehameha Day parade.
Kaua’i was the only island not conquered by Kamehameha, and will be without a parade this year. Hurricane ‘Iniki put a halt to the Lihu’e parade and celebrations for nearly seven years, but Jack Wilhelm and Edie Bandmann, parade commissioners, helped bring back the celebration in 2000.
“With all the damages that happened here, they didn’t want to put pressure on people that the parade had to go on,” Bandmann said.
Kaua’i Kamehameha Day commissioner Shelly Cobb said she decided not to have the parade this year because of road construction on Rice Street.
“They did stage a wonderful (parade) last year and it’s just too bad that the road construction schedule is so heavy,” said Lucille Kalaoka’aea-Kahele, of the Honolulu office of the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission.
The ho’olaulea planned for last weekend at Nawiliwili Park was canceled because of a canoe regatta rescheduled for the same day. There was no way to fit the two events together, Cobb said.
With at least 50 groups and more than 100 horses in the parade, safety is the biggest concern for the King Kamehameha Celebration Committee, who decided that Rice Street wasn’t safe.
“The main issue was safety, with the horses especially,” Cobb said, “With loose plates on the road and holes, it’s not safe to have people along the edge of the street.”
Last Nov. 30, the Lights of Rice Parade went down Rice Street, with seemingly few safety issues. However, Cobb said the Lights of Rice parade did not include horses because the parade is held at night, and the uneven road surface made it unsafe for the animals.
Kalaoka’aea-Kahele said that a few of the 13 commissioners on the state board of the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission came to Kaua’i to look at Rice Street; they agreed that the condition of the road would be unsafe for participants, horses and parade watchers.
“There’s too much movement and it’s too many people,” Kalaoka’aea-Kahele added.
Honolulu did not want Kaua’i to hold the parade anywhere else than Lihue … “I was told to keep things as close to the County Building as I could,” Cobb said.
Without horses proudly carrying regal pa’u riders, the parade just wouldn’t be the same, so it is postponed until next year, when Rice Street will be clear, Cobb said.
“I was bummed about it, but I’m all set for next year,” Cobb said.
The year 2002 marks the 130th anniversary of celebrating King Kamehameha Day in Hawai’i. In 1872 Kamehameha V declared June 11 as a day to honor his grandfather, Kamehameha the Great.
“We reflect upon the legacy of Hawai’i’s greatest statesman and warrior,” stated Gov. Benjamin J. Cayetano on Monday. King Kamehameha Day is the only United States holiday created to pay tribute to a once-reigning monarch.
Hawai’i celebrates Kamehameha, who unified the islands (except Kaua’i) by draping leis over the statues of the leader. Possibly the greatest-known is the 8-foot bronze and gold statue across I’olani Palace in Honolulu.
