The thousands who flocked to the 25th annual Okinawan Festival yesterday were all part of what's expected to be the largest crowd ever at the popular event, according to organizers.

"The buzz about it being the 25th annual festival brought in more than 500 participants from Okinawa," said Jon Itomura, festival chairman. "Plus, we've had charter planes coming in from California. Our normal estimate is about 50,000 people going through our festival every year. This time we're estimating upwards of 60,000 to 75,000 people."

The festival continues today at Kapi'olani Park.

Yesterday afternoon, virtually everyone who showed up for the singing, dancing, costumes and stage performances — not to mention the andagi, yakisoba and pig's feet soup — had to devise some strategy to deal with the blistering sun. Some found a sliver of shade and stuck to it like glue. Others used parasols, or fashioned impromptu sun blockers out of everything from cardboard to paper bags.

For Julia Harding, 6, of Kane'ohe, a first-timer at the festival, there was the fun-and-games approach. First, she paid her scrip at the fishing tent. Then she lowered her pole over the pond and snagged a tiny pink crab. Finally, she gleefully traded the crab at the prize table for a bright blue sun visor.

"She's having a really great time," said her mom, Lisa Harding, as Julia bounded off toward her next adventure.

Art Wehner of Oxnard, Calif., may have looked like just another guy standing under an ironwood tree wearing an "Okinawa — Japan" T-shirt. But looks can be deceiving.

Wehner turned out to be a globetrotting Asian-celebration connoisseur who has attended Okinawan festivals from Japan to Hawai'i to Peru and back to Hawai'i. (He and his wife, Haruko, will travel to the Okinawan festival in Brazil later this year, and the one in Okinawa in 2008). Wehner had staked out his vantage point with precision.

Hawai'i's festival stacks up well compared to others he's been to, he said. But his favorite thing about it was the spot where he was standing. Not only was it shady, but it was perpetually breezy. His little slice of luxury was oddly quiet, even as chaos reigned all about. Food booths, cold drink tents, and VIP latrines were all within a few paces. He also had a straight-on, unobstructed view of the stage and Diamond Head behind it.

"Plus, if I should need it, I've got the emergency safety tent right over there," said Wehner, as his wife roamed about the festival presumably finding her own way to beat the heat. According to Art, he and Haruko met in Tengen, Okinawa, when he was stationed there with the Navy in 1969 and 1970.

"The chaplain who married us said it wouldn't last — because we'd only known each other about a month," he recalled. "That was 37 years ago. I think it's going to work out."

Over at the Optimist Club tent, about two dozen Junior Optimists were operating the always popular andagi dunk booth. While some of the kids filled balloons with ice-cold water, others loaded the balloons into a sieve mounted above a chair.

The object was for the swarm of young pitchers gathered to throw bean bags at a target that would pop the balloon, dousing the unlucky booth workers who took turns in the chair.

Some of the victims didn't seem to mind. One, a 12-year-old named Cameron, actually seemed to enjoy it.

"I think next time I'll juggle water balloons while I sit there," he said with a grin during a break, and then — for the sake of any doubters in the audience — he demonstrated his ability to juggle like a pro.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.