Lovena Wong, right, of ’Ahahui Ka’ahumanu, lays out lei donated by Halau Hula Olana. The group will spend the morning stringing thousands of plumeria flowers to be draped on the statue of King Kamehameha I later today. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

And this morning, Eloise Burns, heading up the Kamehameha Day leimaking project, looked more than a bit nervous. She cast her eyes about the gathering of idle volunteers from her Hawaiian organization, 'Ahahui Ka'ahumanu. They sat beneath a tent erected near the statue of Kamehameha that silently awaited its annual cascades of lei in advance of tomorrow's parade.

The draping ceremony: set for 4 p.m.today. And precious few plumerias from volunteers, whose backyard trees were sulking after weeks of rain.

"The blooming was supposed to have started in March," said member Lynnette Ae'a. "But it didn't, because no sun."

Finally, the sun came out ­ in the form of a van from Halau Hula Olana, whose hula parents stayed up until midnight stringing about eight-foot strands. Burns happily helped lay out about 30 of their lei, and then another van pulled up, bearing eight boxes packed with flowers from Moloka'i Plumerias Inc.

"Our flowers are here!" Burns exulted. Is she a happy camper now? "I am, I am," she answered, scurrying off to supervise leimakers now swimming in the fragrant heat of their labor.