Taiko drumbeats open festival
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Taiko drums shook the Hawai'i Convention Center and reverberated through the parking lot yesterday as the annual Honolulu Festival got into full swing for the 10th year.
Koji Sato of Kochi, Japan, practices with other members of the Suga Yosakoi Narukoren dance group before performing at the 10th annual Honolulu Festival at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
More than 10,000 people attended the festival at the convention center alone, organizers said, while more watched performances at Ala Moana and the Royal Hawaiian shopping centers and the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
The festival, designed to promote cultural awareness between Hawai'i and Japan and featuring several thousand performers and artists, continues today and culminates with the Grand Parade tonight in Waikiki.
"Awesome," said Kelan Alvarez of Mililani as a Taiko drumming performance beneath an inflatable dragon the size of a semi truck ended and he and his friend, Rhawnee Kealoha of Pearl City stepped into a nearby exhibition room to see the world's largest patchwork quilt.
"This is what I came to see," Kealoha said. "It has the four major events from Buddha's life. They say it weighs 2 tons. I wanted to see how it was put together."
The quilt is exhibited across the world to benefit needy Asian children. The project was started by a man in Nepal, who wanted to raise money for a school in his community. Since then more than 10,000 volunteers from 16 countries have added to it, making a creation nearly the size of a football field.
"It's, uh — huge," Alvarez said.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
On a nearby stage, Jake Shimabukuro finished an impressive 'ukulele performance and announced he would sign CDs at a nearby booth. Nearly 100 spectators left their seats and followed him to the booth, queuing up with CDs in hand.
More then 60 volunteers from the Honolulu Festival Foundation and the Mandala 21st Century Executive Committee Secretarias worked at the Hawai'i Convention Center Friday to zipper together the 81 panels for the world's largest patchwork quilt which is on display as part of the Honolulu Festival.
Others perused food, craft and performance exhibits.
"The aikido was good," said Jiny Han, a visitor from South Korea.
Children in the convention center lined up at an exhibition of video games. One or two at a time, the children stood in front of large flat-screen television, which projected their image back to them. Tiny pirates and other creatures jumped across the screen, and the children batted them away with their hands.
Festival exhibits continue today at 10 a.m. at the convention center and at Ala Moana Center and at 11 a.m. at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, and continue through at least 2:30 p.m.
Japanese archery exhibits will be held in Kapi'olani Park from 9 a.m. to noon and at the convention center from 2 to 3 p.m.
Jake Shimabukuro will perform again at the convention center from 2:10 to 2:30 pm. Convention center parking is $5.
The Grand Parade through Waikiki begins at 5 p.m. at Beach Walk and Kalakaua Avenue and continues along Kalakaua. The parade features more than 5,000 performers. About 300,000 spectators attended last year.
For more information on the festival, go to www.honolulufestival.com or call 596-3327.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
