Lei Queen contest? Let's party!
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Most people know, as the old song goes, that "May Day Is Lei Day in Hawai'i." But apparently far fewer folks realize that Lei Day festivities kick off on the first Saturday in March — with the selection of the Lei Day Queen.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
It was no exception yesterday at Lester McCoy Pavilion at the Ala Moana beach park.
Harry Tam entertains the crowd waiting for the Lei Queen to be named. The winner was Elizabeth Mapuana Freitas.
"We've been doing this for years," said Naomi Carter, Lei Day chairwoman and culture-and-arts coordinator with the city Department of Parks and Recreation. "And hardly anyone knows about it."
The 150 or so people who did show up made the daylong affair one of the more lively get-togethers of the year — with outbursts of laughter and nonstop rounds of impromptu dancing, singing and hugging all morning and afternoon.
All the while the air was filled with sounds and sights of Aloha Kupuna, five musicians and seven hula dancers who range in age from 68 to 82, according to Kaulana Kasparovitch, who has been the event's master of ceremonies for 12 years.
Danny Von, 80, kept the backbeat going on the gut bucket, an upside-down galvanized washtub with a piece of clothesline strung on a busted broom handle.
"It's not a real Stradivari," admitted Von. "It's a replica."
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Noted storyteller Jeff Gere described the jovial atmosphere as "sort of a back-yardy."
Virginia Cuskaden shares a laugh with other onlookers as she walks by the lei tables at yesterday's Lei Queen contest in McCoy Pavilion. That's Kathy Muroto next to her — also also awash in flowers.
"This is such a beautiful event, because everyone has so much fun," said Kasparovitch. "And each year is different because we celebrate a different age group. This year we honor Na Kupuna, or elder contestants, ages 55 to forever."
Next year celebrates Na 'Opio, or 18- to 30-year-olds, and the following year honors Na Makua, or 31- to 54-year-olds.
The focus of attention yesterday, of course, was on the six contestants who were judged for their poise, personality, lei-making abilities and hula attributes.
In the end, Elizabeth Mapuana Freitas of Hale'iwa — looking far closer to 55 than forever — was voted Lei Queen of 2002. She said that she was happy and proud "to share all the beautiful flowers that we have here on Lei Day."
Flossie Fernandez of Kaimuki and Lorraine Lahela Pe'elua Higa of Waimanalo were chosen as Lei Princesses.
The selection process was difficult, according to Bobbi-Lynn Kupihea-Char, a Lei Princess of 2001, who teamed up with the other members of last year's Lei Court in judging this year's contestants.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I look for the composition of the lei — the material they use," she said as she filled out her score sheet during the morning lei-judging session. "I look for wearability."
Louise Kim dances a hula as Dannie Von plays a gut bucket made from a washtub and clothesline — just a replica of a Stradivari, he confessed. There was lots of music and mirth at yesterday's event.
It is also important that nothing fall off the lei after it's finished, according to Kupihea-Char, although she refrained from swinging the finished leis around her head, the way her own lei teacher used to do.
Yesterday was extra special because this is considered the 75th anniversary of Lei Day — even though Carter explained that the dates and details are "kind of blurry."
The celebration, which has been sponsored by the Honolulu city government since 1934, was hatched by poet and journalist Don Blanding, a visitor from the Mainland who in the 1920s decided that the romantic appeal of lei giving in the Islands was special and deserved its own day.
Carter says there was apparently a small gathering of lei revelers May 1, 1927, in downtown Honolulu. Other accounts put the date of origin in 1928, the year the first Lei Day Queen, Nina Bowman, was selected — and also the year Red Hawke wrote "May Day Is Lei Day in Hawai'i."
If it turns out that 1928 was indeed the first year instead of 1927, then there could be two 75th Lei Day anniversaries in a row beginning the first Saturday of next March — not that those who show up for this little known extravaganza really need an excuse to pull out all the stops.
