LIHUE — Diane Horita doesn’t know if she will be going to Las Vegas.
“I don’t gamble,” the Lihue resident said. “My granddaughter is in Las Vegas and has asked us to come, but we haven’t gone.”
Horita was selected the winner of the grand prize from the 2019 Contractors Association of Kauai Home Expo that wrapped up last Saturday at Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall. Her selection was through a random drawing of completed eligible “passports” issued to show attendees. The grand prize was presented by the CAK and Mokihana Travel.
She was still reeling from her experience in the First Hawaiian Bank Money Machine at the home show, where she was able to grab a handful of bills during her short stay in the literal whirlwind of currency.
“That was my first time in the money machine,” Horita said. “I don’t know. This prize is transferrable, and my grandson is thinking of going to school in Las Vegas, so I might use this to help him.”
The winners of prizes at the CAK Home Expo converged Thursday at First Hawaiian Bank’s Rice Street branch, a show partner since its inception, to collect their winnings.
Tom Canute of FHB stood in for Joyce Vidinha, who was the recipient of the standing barbecue grill, presented by Hawaii Gas.
Gerald Matsunaga was the lucky recipient of the tabletop grill that caught the eye of many show-goers, including Vidinha, also presented by Hawaii Gas.
Dave Leventhal was dressed for the occasion as he accepted his Stihl cordless weed whacker presented by Service Rentals &Supply.
CAK officials also released the show booth-contest winners determined by a panel of judges prior to the opening of the expo that had the help of students from the Kauai High School Key Club and other CAK volunteers.
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative earned the best designed sign booth space award that was presented by Shioi Construction, and Hawaii Gas, complete with its quasi-flames emitting from a standing barbecue, earned the best use of space awarded by Earthworks Pacific.
A desk fashioned out of a contemporary solar panel demonstrated the best display of build green principles for Nathan Wood General Contractor, whose award was presented by Alexander &Baldwin Hawaii.
The Pacific Mirror &Glass ohana, already contemplating its Lights on Rice holiday parade ideas, drew a steady stream of show attendees through its offering of contemporary window and other home-improvement treatments to earn the 2019 Best In Show perpetual trophy and plaque presented by Koga Engineering &Construction.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
