The September 11th attack
A pall is cast over paradise
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The bright banners of the Aloha Festivals still clung to street poles throughout downtown Honolulu and Waikiki yesterday, but there was no parade, no festival and, certainly, no celebration.
All around Hawai'i, the usual rhythms of life in the Islands continued to stutter and sometimes stop altogether after terrorists attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon nearly 5,000 miles away Tuesday.
Organizers in Hawai'i postponed or canceled events because it simply felt wrong to carry on.
No sports for public schools for a week. No "My Fair Lady" at the Army Community Theatre. No Dole Plantation Birthday Bash.
State officials rescheduled the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism's trade mission to China that would promote Hawai'i business opportunities.
Local businesses began cutting back on employee hours as visitors suddenly dropped off when flights were canceled around the country.
And everyone was suddenly more aware of heightened security.
On Wednesday, Wallette Shidler left her Diamond Head neighborhood where a Coast Guardsman stood watch with an M-16, protecting the lighthouse and the home of the commanding admiral.
Shidler then arrived at the Coast Guard recreational center in Wailupe for a game of tennis, only to be met with another guard with a rifle slung over his shoulder.
"It was a surprise," she said. "But I guess I was reassured."
Some of the responses to Tuesday's attacks, such as increased security measures at Honolulu International Airport, will bring permanent change.
Elderly passengers who lug boxes of omiyage on interisland trips will be on their own, because only ticketed passengers will be allowed in the terminals. That would mean no relatives and friends can help carry the cartons of customary gifts through the terminals.
Even Hawai'i's world-famous lei greeters will no longer offer kisses and lei to passengers just getting off their flights. The lei greeters will be lucky if they can get into the baggage-claim area, said Ron Takeuchi, president of Aloha VIP Tours.
"For those travelers expecting to be lei greeted at plane-side," he said, "we're just going to have to change that thinking and say, 'Sorry, it's not happening that way.' "
Perhaps no other single event better illustrates last week's conflicting feelings in the Islands than the decision to cancel the 54th Aloha Festivals ceremonies and parade.
High school bands began dropping out of the parade the day after the attack, when state schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu canceled all "co-curricular activities" through today.
VIPs pulled out, and corporate sponsors no longer wanted their logos and names carried on banners in the parade.
Nearly 1,000 people in all were suddenly no longer involved.
The festivals' 40-member board of directors was torn between mourning the dead and wanting to show that life in America continues despite terrorism, said Janet Hyrne, the festivals executive director.
But then President Bush declared Friday a day of National Prayer and Remembrance.
Through e-mails, phone calls and hastily called meetings, the board of directors decided to cancel Friday's annual downtown Ho'olaule'a and opening ceremony.
The parade would continue, the board decided, as a tribute to the victims, with the remaining 2,500 participants to wear red, white and blue ribbons.
Dozens of people disagreed and critical phone calls poured in to the festivals office, Hyrne said.
"Our intent was to have a tribute to the families who lost lives," Hyrne said. "People are very, very familiar with what our parade is — very colorful and festive. Even though we toned down the parade and said it was going to be a tribute, people still wondered how we could go on and still be respectful."
So on Friday, the board canceled the Aloha Festivals Parade for the first time since 1947.
Lost are hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lei and flowers.
"All gone," Hyrne said.
This week was also supposed to be the grand opening of the Kalia Tower at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa, which includes a branch of the Bishop Museum.
"After many hours discussing the tragic events," hotel and museum officials canceled a blessing for the Bishop Museum at Kalia, said Kimsehree Napiewocki, a spokeswoman for Hilton Hawai'i.
"Many people want to forge ahead and do things that were planned," Napiewocki said. "Other people felt we really want to be sensitive and this might not be the appropriate time. To a lot of people, a blessing is a celebration. It's hard to celebrate right now."
No one knows exactly when life in Hawai'i will return to routine, said Dr. Don Purcell, a Honolulu psychiatrist who is also an assistant professor at the University of Hawai'i's medical school.
People who weren't even directly affected by the deaths may need months, perhaps even a year or two, to recover, Purcell said.
Hyrne just knows that it's too soon to start expecting life in the Islands to return to normal.
"I don't think it'll be next week and maybe not soon after," she said. "Our hearts will tell us when it's time."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
