Celebrating 60 years of nonstop aloha
| • | 60th Aloha Festivals calendar highlights |
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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The Aloha Festivals started small, in 1946, as a modest celebration of Hawai'i's music, dance and culture compacted into a single week. And so for years, it was dubbed Aloha Week.
As Aloha Festivals launches its 60th season this weekend with the theme "Na Paniolo Nui O Hawai'i (The Great Cowboys of Hawai'i)," the celebration relies on diehard volunteers who uphold the cultural aspects of the tradition, which has grown in stature as the lone statewide observance of its kind in the United States. An estimated 1 million now attend more than 300 events annually on six islands.
But there have been some growing pains. With a $900,000 budget, it's a struggle to present the scope of activities — parades, ho'olaule'a, arts exhibits, falsetto contests and other events with Asian, Pacific and Western influences — to maintain the festival's mission to "foster the aloha spirit through the preservation of Hawaiian culture and the perpetuation of the diverse customs and traditions of Hawai'i."
Dolores Kau is one of more than 30,000 supporters statewide who helps keep the festival afloat. She became a volunteer in 1947, the event's second season. "I had flower connections to help provide vandas for lei and floats," she said. Kau then was employed by Flowers of Hawai'i, which supplied blooms for the celebration.
Kau, who turned 83 last week, fondly recalled the festival's humble beginnings. "In those days, you could get 1,000 vandas for about $3, and supplying those flowers was how I got involved," she said.
Her enthusiasm has not diminished in her decades of commitment. "What else would I do?" she said.
A resource from the past who tirelessly dedicates hours of volunteer time to spread and live the spirit of Aloha Festivals, Kau today is a reminder of what the organization needs to keep the flame burning. Aside from the intermittent years when she had four children, Kau has been a loyal volunteer from the get-go. Her late husband, Louis Kau Sr., was 1967 king of the Royal Court and 1977 president of the festival organization.
"He was tall, very Hawaiian," Kau said of her husband, who died in 1993. "He made a great king. Me? I never wanted to be queen — but I could not, anyway. For one thing, I'm Chinese. Not part-Hawaiian, a requirement. Not regal. Just a little pake girl," she joked. "But Uncle Louie was a very nice man."
Her gift to the festivals has been a boundless aloha for making others feel good — about the culture, about the celebration — and her enduring passion made it a natural for her to chair the hospitality committee.
"Now I'm taking care of the VIPs and people who support Aloha Week and Festivals," said Kau, sounding like a true hostess. "These people give funds to help support our events; I take care of them. I get them beautiful lei, because I still have connections today. When you get maile lei, you feel special."
CHANGING TIMES
But things have changed.
"In the early days, people did or gave things for nothing," Kau said. Now, everything you need, you have to pay for. I gotta go along with this, but I wish there was a little more aloha."
"My volunteer work keeps me busy, keeps me young, keeps my mind active," she said. "Only thing, I don't drive myself anymore, following a bad case of pneumonia, so people take me around. Kinda humbug; I have to wait and wait and wait. My kids help, too, but there's nothing like doing your own driving."
NEW EVENTS
Charlian Wright, executive director of Aloha Festivals, said the milestone celebration has added some fresh events while maintaining the larger, popular attractions such as the floral parade and a pair of street fairs, the Waikiki Ho'olaule'a and the Downtown Mele.
New this year:
Aside from a handful of ticketed events (formal concerts, lu'au events, the Royal Ball, other special attractions), most activities are free, though the organizers hope that participants buy and don a $5 Aloha Festivals ribbon, the official "ticket" that demonstrates support for the festival and helps underwrite some expenses. Logo merchandise provides additional revenue.
Wright said in looking forward, she also is taking a backward glance at the Aloha Festivals. And she has concerns about the preservation of precious memorabilia and maintaining archival material that would provide valuable documentation of the festival for future generations.
"I've tried to catch up with the old-time folks to identify some of the elder kings and queens from our Royal Court," Wright said of vintage photographs. "We really have some beautiful pictures that we want to keep, but the difficulty is that we have proof sheets from photographers no longer around."
She also has discovered that historic images encased in plastic sleeves have begun deteriorating.
Clearly, Hawai'i's world-famous annual event has to play catch-up in this digital age, said Wright. "We have discovered that some black-and-white photos tend to fade, too. We really need to get the files ready for the 100th (anniversary)." It's a costly proposition to maintain the heritage for tomorrow's 'ohana of planners and volunteers — a task not included in fiscal planning.
DIFFERENT BIRTHDAYS
Because certain events have been launched at different times, there's a range of anniversaries at play. The parade marks its 59th birthday this year; after the 9/11 terror attacks, the parade was canceled. The Waikiki Ho'olaule'a marks its 54th anniversary this year; the downtown street fair started in the 1980s. O'ahu's falsetto concert logs its 12th search, with the Kindy Sproat competition on the Big Island observing its 15th birthday this year.
The Aloha Week idea is credited to a group of former Jaycees, dubbed the Jaycee Old-timers of Hawai'i, who had the notion of an annual event to showcase the Islands' multicultural heritage for residents and visitors alike. Over the years, the visitor industry realized that tourism was down between summer and winter, and a big to-do, with songs, dances and aloha to spare, could be marketed to lure malihini to Hawai'i. Thus, Aloha Week — the name was changed to Aloha Festivals in 1991 — became a fixture on the state's master calendar and one of the rare attractions that lures both residents and visitors alike.
Formats and contents have been tweaked over the generations.
"Long ago, I helped put down the youth programs in the neighborhoods — Kailua, Kane'ohe, Wai'anae and Wahiawa — where performers were picked for a winner's show at the Waikiki Shell," said Carl Rossetti, 80, a volunteer for 50 years. He is the father of Jacqueline "Honolulu Skylark" Rossetti, a veteran booster of Hawaiian music and culture and a longtime radio deejay.
"I wish shows like this could be revived," said Carl Rossetti, who believes the Aloha Festivals help perpetuate Hawaiian music and culture. "That's one way to involve the younger people in the festival; that's one way to preserve the culture."
"I miss the Hawaiian and international pageants at the shell, too," Kau said. "It really showed what comprises Hawai'i — Koreans, Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, people of all nationalities, performing during the festival."
ENLISTING KOKUA
The festival receives funding principally from the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, an acknowledgement of the appeal to the visitor trade, and corporate support from local businesses such as Hawaiian Airlines. The big-ticket operational costs are covered by these larger donors.
"But we need young blood," Kau said of enlisting workers who will stay for the long haul. "The reality is, us old farts are more reliable. We have the time, so we stay from beginning to end. For some of the older ladies, there's no other place to go. Younger kids come aboard, but sometimes they don't stick around."
Rossetti still attends numerous events, if only to reflect on the memories of yesteryear. "I was chairman at one time of the parade, so I love watching the parade every year. I go to the ho'olaule'a and the Royal Court investiture, too. I used to go to the Royal Ball, but it's getting a little too expensive for me. That's one of the problems: cost. Before, entertainers used to play for manuahi (free). I remember Danny Kaleikini used to emcee for free. Nowadays, you don't get an entertainer unless you pay. And Aloha Festivals does not have that kind of money. That's why many of us volunteer."
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.
