'Sunset' returning to Wai'anae

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer

Patty Teruya, the Leeward O'ahu resident who spearheaded the epic Wai'anae Coast Sunset on the Beach on March 16 and 17, said folks on her side of the Island just couldn't wait to play host to the second annual event.

Now, it looks like they won't have to. They're going to do it this year.

"I said let me see what I can do," Teruya said she told neighbors who were eager for Sunset to return after the wildly successful event in Wai'anae ended up drawing three times more people than any previous Sunset event.

Teruya asked the city deputy managing director Malcolm Tom where the road show version of the popular Waikiki outdoor movie and food festival was heading. Tom told her after it finishes up in Waipahu this weekend, it's bound for 'Aiea/Pearl City in May and the North Shore in June.

"He stopped at June," Teruya said. "So I said, 'Well, Wai'anae wants it back in August.' And he said, 'What!?' "

Later, Tom gave Teruya the go-ahead.

She conferred with Leeward friends, and together they decided on Aug. 10-11 for what Teruya now jokingly refers to as "the Second annual Wai'anae Coast Sunset on the Beach."

Tom said the rationale for scheduling the second beach blowout on O'ahu's west coast is because school begins early there, and folks don't want to have the party while school is in session.

Besides, he added, "the community is so enthused about it — we're not going to throw cold water on it. That's the last thing we want to do. The more the merrier."

Teruya, who works at the city's Neighborhood Communication Office, said the Wai'anae Coast's 60,000-person turnout in March has become the standard by which all Sunset on the Beach extravaganzas are measured.

Next time — with even more area restaurants signing up — the crowd could be even bigger, she said.

Teruya muses about how, before March, she wasn't sure any restaurants in the economically beleaguered area would sign up for the celebration.

Now, she said, "Every single one of them, without any hesitation, said, 'Patty, we're in.' And I'm thinking, 'Whoa, this tone is totally different.' "

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.