Wai'anae Sunset gets encore
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
For the third time in two years, the Wai'anae Coast will host a Sunset on the Beach festival. Once again, there are predictions that the crowds will be colossal.
Advertiser library photo
Patty Teruya, the driving force behind the community's hugely successful two-day food fest and outdoor movie extravaganzas that have boasted record-setting attendance, says even more folks will show up at next weekend's bash.
In March 2002, the turnout for the first Sunset on the Beach event on the Wai'anae Coast had skeptics eating humble poi. An estimated 10,000 people showed up to see "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" on the weekend festival's opening night. Next weekend's Sunset festival at Ma'ili Beach Park will be the Wai'anae Coast's third.
But this time there's going to be an admission price: one can of food.
"We're asking that people bring a canned good or nonperishable food item," she said.
"The Hawai'i Food Bank will distribute the food items to eligible nonprofits on this side of the island. All items will stay in the Wai'anae Coast for the many who are the most unfortunate."
Among the highlights of the festival will be a health expo with checkups, screenings and demonstrations; door prizes; entertainment; Independent Classic Car displays; rides; Extreme Fun inflatable attractions; Team OGIO Hawai'i and Extreme Sports skateboard and BMX clinics; and, as always, food booths galore.
The feature film lineup will be "Heart of the Sea," a documentary about the life of surfing legend Rell Sunn, and "Blue Crush" for Saturday night and "Shanghai Nights" for Sunday.
Big crowds have come to be expected at these Ma'ili Beach events, but last year, when Teruya predicted that the first Wai'anae Coast Sunset would be the biggest bash ever, some folks didn't know whether to laugh or shake their heads.
• What: Wai'anae Coast Sunset on the Beach • When: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday • Where: Ma'ili Beach Park • Admission fee: One can of food
But the skeptics were proven wrong on the March weekend when the throng that packed Ma'ili Beach Park more than doubled any Sunset attendance elsewhere. When it became obvious that the Wai'anae Coast community was hooked on the idea, organizers from the area were soon raising money to throw their own "second annual" Sunset festival in August 2002.
At a glance
Next weekend's festival is being co-sponsored by Valley of The Rainbows, the city government and the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, among others.
The silver lining to so much effort, Teruya said, is that the festival provides an economic stimulus and a social boost that help to offset what Wai'anae Coast residents consider to be long-standing, and undeserved, negative images of the community.
Free parking is available next weekend.
There will be shuttle buses running from noon to 10:30 p.m. both days along Farrington Highway, with stops at Makaha Valley Road, Wai'anae Mall and the Nanakuli Butler Building.
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.
