The centerpiece of the Aloha Festivals — a floral parade down Kalakaua Avenue — almost didn't happen this year.

But thanks to some last-minute donations and a veteran parade organizer known as "Auntie Toni," who was able to put the event together in a little over a month with help from friends, the parade will celebrate its 62nd year Saturday with more floats, bands and participants than ever.

Toni Lee, immediate past president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, was asked in late July if she would organize the parade after Aloha Festivals officials were unable to rally enough community support — and donations — to save it.

The unpaid job of putting together the parade usually takes a year.

Though daunted, Lee decided to take on the challenge anyway.

"How can you let a cultural parade go down?" asked Lee, who has put on the Prince Kuhio Day parade and other events in the past, sitting in her Pacific Palisades home on a recent afternoon. Nearby, on a collapsible table, Lee had laid out the Waikiki parade route, with paper cutouts representing each of the more than 175 floats, horse units, hula halau and cars in the parade.

The parade will cost about $60,000 to put on.

Much of that money comes from a last-minute plea for donations.

$200,000 PRICE TAG

The Aloha Festivals, which kicks off today with the royal court investiture at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, runs through Sept. 28, and features a series of gatherings and performances. In all, the festivals cost some $200,000 to put on every year, money largely provided by the Hawai'i Tourism Authority.

Corporate sponsors and private donors also help out, and the Aloha Festivals also raise money by selling ribbons that offer discounts at shops.

This year, the date for the festivals was inching closer and closer and the organization had not reached the minimum of $50,000 in donations to receive a $200,000 Hawai'i Tourism Authority grant. Finally, in June, the festivals put out a call and the community responded, setting up a "Save the Parade" campaign and raising $50,000 in a matter of weeks, officials said.

The campaign helped the parade stay alive for another year, though it's unclear whether the financial situation will be any better next year. The Aloha Festivals has been canceled only once — after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Aloha Festivals, and its signature parade with a royal court, was first held in 1946 as Aloha Week, and is an annual big draw for residents and tourists alike. In fact, some visitors plan their trip around the celebration.

FEST DRAWS VISITORS

A study conducted for the Hawai'i Tourism Authority found that about 117,650 people attended Aloha Festivals events in 2005 — about half of whom were visitors. Of those, 5,200 came to Hawai'i to attend Aloha Festivals. The series of events generated an estimated $10.5 million in visitor spending.

"When tourism is down ... the parade should be supported by everybody because it's going to attract a lot of attention and promote Hawai'i to visitors," said Pauline Worsham, the business development and marketing consultant for Moanalua Gardens Foundation, which puts on the Prince Lot Hula Festival.

"This year of all years we should be supporting Aloha Festivals parade."

The foundation will have representatives riding in a flower-decorated vintage car in the Aloha Festivals parade, after Lee urged them to participate.

But the highlight of the parade this year won't be antique cars.

It might not even be the floats, or the traditional equestrian units.

Lee expects the real oohs and aahs to come when hula halau begin rolling down Kalakaua Avenue on decorated flatbed trucks, dancing at points along the parade route. The theme of the parade this year is "Hula — The Art of Hawaiian Dance," which is why halau are a focus of the event.