Kamehameha Day parade Saturday to feature 50 units
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By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
There will be fewer entries Saturday in the Kamehameha Celebration Floral Parade for the second year in a row, with just 50 units compared to 63 and 70 in two preceding years, officials said yesterday.
But large entries from Kamehameha Schools and from the Honolulu Fire Department, celebrating its 150th anniversary, may make up for the loss, according to BJ Allen, daughter of parade organizer Keahi Allen of the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission.
The economy may be a contributing factor as volunteers find less time to decorate massive floats or prepare marching or mounted units, Allen said.
"But we will still have many colorful floral floats, glamorous pa'u riders and marching bands making their way from King and Richards streets at 9:30 a.m. to Queen Kapi'olani Park by way of King, Punchbowl Street, Ala Moana Boulevard and Kalakaua Avenue," she said.
A folklife festival at the park will begin at 10 a.m.
KHON-2 expects to broadcast the Waikiki parade live at 11:30 a.m.
Statewide festivities will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. with a ho'olaule'a in Kaunakakai, Moloka'i, followed in Honolulu with a Royal Hawaiian Band concert at 3 p.m. at Ali'iolani Hale, across King Street from 'Iolani Palace, with hula and lei-draping at King Kamehameha's statue at 4:30.
There will be 9 a.m. parades Saturday in Lihu'e on Kaua'i and Kailua on the Big Island.
