Kamehameha parade conquers all
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Floats, brass bands, pa'u riders by the dozen and pageantry aplenty stretched from downtown Honolulu to Waikiki yesterday for the 86th annual King Kamehameha Floral Parade.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I love a parade," said veteran parade watcher Pattie Li, who occupied the first chair on the makai side of the intersection of King and Richards streets where it all began. "And this parade is my favorite."
Members of 'Ahahui Ka'ahumanu ride along in their trademark black holoku and golden lei hulu.
"We come here every year," said her husband, Ron. "Same spot."
The couple say they've been to every Kamehameha Parade since the 1960s.
According to the parade project coordinator, Lucille Kalauokaaea-Kahele, it took a full year to organize yesterday's extravaganza, which stretched four miles from end to end.
"As soon as this is over, we'll start next year's," she said moments before giving the nod for the conch-shell blowers to sound the signal and the Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers, who led the parade, to start their engines.
Karl Kutzen of Makaha hadn't come to watch a parade but to scrape paint at the Austin Building at 223 S. King St. Still, he had a ringside seat as he perched on a stepladder in the shade of his pipe scaffolding.
"This is great. Nice colors. I didn't even know about it," he said as the Royal Hawaiian Band began to play.
Among the impressive floats was the one from Kamehameha Schools, which combined a musical theme with the national tragedy of Sept. 11 to show how Hawaiians have turned to music in times of sorrow.
"We look to them as our cultural examples of how to deal with it," said Nu'u Atkins, who designed the float. "And the dancers will be dancing to the 'Queen's Prayer,' which talks about love and forgiveness."
If they had handed out an award for the liveliest bunch, it would have gone to the three dozen costumed dancers from the Polynesian Cultural Center, who shouted, chanted in unison and dazzled onlookers with their coordinated energy.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We're going to dance for the whole six-mile parade route," Uluwehi Nakila said. "We'll feel it tomorrow, but it will be OK. We do this every day."
The pa'u unit for the island of Hawai'i, resplendent in red satin and floral lei incorporating 'ohia lehua, was part of the colorful pageantry of yesterday's 86th annual King Kamehameha Floral Parade along a six-mile route starting downtown at King and Richards street and ending at Kapi'olani Park in Waikiki.
Eddie Cashman was noticeably impressed with Nakila and the rest of the dancers from La'ie.
"They should take those people to parades on the Mainland," said Cashman, a dorm adviser at Kamehameha Schools. "People would really love that."
By the time the Polynesian Cultural Center dancers had finished the journey, Nakila's exuberance had wilted only slightly.
"I'm glad it's over," she confessed. "It was really hot. But I will definitely do it again. I've got a whole year to prepare."
At the finish of the parade route, sitting in the breezy shade on Monsarrat Avenue, artist April Moseley watched the passing pageantry with astonishment. A recent arrival to Hawai'i from Bostwick, Ga., she had actually turned up to hang her Hawaiian floral art works on the fence at the zoo.
Her first-ever Kamehameha Parade will be remembered, said Moseley, who hadn't known that the parade would be passing her chair.
"I've seen many a parade, but I haven't seen many with this energy level," said Moseley, whose hometown has only 200 people. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to put this together, with all the costumes and flowers. I love the brilliant colors. This is great entertainment.
"They don't have anything like it in Bostwick!"
