Rain dampens festivities but not New Year's spirit
By Mike Leidemann, Treena Shapiro and Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writers
Hawai'i residents welcomed the arrival of a new year last night with friends and fireworks, parties and pupu platters. A soft, steady rain brought a muted glow to most parts of the Islands, but spirits were ebullient.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Despite reports that fireworks sales had jumped sharply this year, police and fire officials said the rain appeared to help make the night one of the safest and quietest in years — at least in the hours leading up to the midnight crescendo.
Laura Akiona, right, 3-year-old Cross Jardine and other revelers welcomed the new year with fireworks in Palolo.
Despite the rain, Josiah Terrell-Perica, 10, of Salt Lake was among the New Year's revelers who set off fireworks.
Still, thousands of people were out on the town or celebrating at home.
"We're going to drink and party all night long," said newlywed Lillian Perkins, who started her evening with dinner for 24 close friends and relatives at Aloha Tower Market Place, one day after she got married to husband Michael in Kahala.
Fireworks celebrations were planned for Waikiki, Aloha Tower and the Ihilani Resort as well as at thousands of family gatherings.
Patrick Souza, partying in his Palolo home's carport with about two dozen people, said he spent about $300 on fireworks, far less than in previous years, partly because they were so hard to find.
"We had to go run around from store to store to get these," he said.
The party was going strong an hour before the new year arrived. Kids were lighting up the street with fireworks, while the adults visited in the carport and feasted on homemade musubi, deep-fried 'ahi, sashimi and Souza's homemade pear sausage.
Michael and Laura Smith of Honolulu met friends Dean and Susan DeVries of Wai'anae for drinks at the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant at 7 p.m. By 10 p.m., they said, they'd have a group of nine ready for a late dinner cruise and fireworks watching.
"It's the third-straight year we've done it," Michael Smith said. "We like to come early to get a parking stall, get a cocktail and relax a bit. It's a beautiful experience."
Brooke and Marc Pearlman also were trying to relax a bit early in the evening before he had to head off to work — as a guitar player for the Guy Cruz band, which was playing at Kapono's. "We left the kids with Mom in Waikiki and headed out for some food and drinks before the music begins," Marc Pearlman said.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
By 10 p.m., only four fireworks-related fire calls had come in to the department's dispatch area in the basement of the municipal building on King Street.
Sheriff Deputy Chester Kau and Army National Guard Sgt. Donevan Ha'o patrol near Aloha Tower as part of beefed up New Year's security.
All of them, said Capt. Frank Johnson, a fire communications supervisor said, were trash bin fires. Although a blanket of smoke covered most valley areas, medical calls for patients experiencing difficulties breathing were down, too. Usually, the number of calls on New Year's Eve increases dramatically. But at 10 p.m., dispatchers were still waiting for the flood. "Right now," Johnson said, "thank God, everything is wet out there and it has been very, very quiet."
With security heightened for the orange level threat alert, public safety precautions were even more stringent last night to make sure Hawai'i ushered in the New Year safely.
Since Dec. 21, the state has been at the orange threat level, defined as "high risk" under the federal alert system. However, aside from heightened security at the airports and harbors, much of it has not been noticeable to the average person.
Federal, state and city law enforcement officials were reluctant to specify what security measures were taken because they did not want to compromise their efforts.
More police were on duty, including those running checkpoints in certain neighborhoods to look for intoxicated drivers.
The state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said security would be the same as it has been recently, with vehicle checkpoints at the airports and harbors.
"The only change is we're going to close Lagoon Drive around midnight," he said. The closure was meant to discourage people from setting off fireworks near the airport runways.
State Department spokesman Major Charles Anthony said, "Certain agencies may be beefing up the number of personnel on duty tonight, but overall it's not that much different from what we would ordinarily be doing in code orange anyway."
