KAHULUI, Maui — The 85th Maui County Fair Parade yesterday provided a welcome respite for Hawaii Superferry employees from a grueling three-week court hearing that likely will determine the fate of the new interisland transport.

About 50 ferry workers and family members marched in front of a float they had built to resemble the company's 350-foot catamaran, the Alakai, and received a generally warm greeting from the crowd packed into a two-block stretch of Ka'ahumanu Avenue in Kahului. Many parade-watchers cheered and applauded the Hawaii Superferry entry, while others seemed indifferent. Any negative comments were kept between spectators.

Among those cheering was John Platiro of Waiehu, who had brought son Tyler, 8, and daughter Tia, 5, to the parade. Platiro owns an Iron Horse motorcycle and is looking forward to taking his chopper to other islands on the ferry. "It gives local people another option and I think it's a good option," he said.

A little farther down the parade route, the ferry entry got hearty applause from Jack Breen, coach of Maui's only rugby team for teenagers. The group has to travel off-island for games, and Breen feels that the ferry will provide a more economical mode to transport players and gear.

John Thomas of Ha'iku muttered an anti-ferry sentiment as the company's parade unit passed but otherwise kept his opposition civil. He said the state should have prepared an environmental impact statement years ago on ferry-related projects at four state ports. "There is no excuse for them to have put it off. The only reason not to have done it is because they knew from the beginning an EIS would show they would not be able to keep from impacting the whales and harming the life of the islands," Thomas said.

Another spectator, Jeanne Morris of Wailuku, said she was neutral in the ferry debate, but appreciated the parade appearance by the employees and company president and CEO John Garibaldi. "I admire them for being out there walking, especially with all the controversy," she said.

Hawaii Superferry employs 35 workers on Maui, and most had spent the past three weeks in Circuit Court observing testimony in a hearing to determine whether the company can resume service to Kahului Harbor while the state performs a court-ordered environmental assessment of harbor projects related to it. Duane Kim, the company's Maui manager, said that not too long after the hearing convened Sept. 10, the employees came up with the idea to join the parade, one of Maui's iconic events.

Argylle DeRego and Steven Phander designed the 25-foot-long plywood ferry using the actual vessel design. The float was built under a tent structure at the Kahului port that normally serves as the ferry's vehicle check-in site.

The scale model was placed atop two luggage carts and towed by a luggage tug.

Phander said everyone worked on the float at some point, and that the parade brought the employees even closer together as a group.

There was a mildly awkward moment before the start of the parade, when the Superferry float pulled up next to a trailer holding Hawaiian Canoe Club's two koa canoes. The real Alakai will have to share Kahului Harbor with the club, whose members have voiced concerns about how their longtime and traditional Hawaiian activities may be affected by the new ferry service.

The company's unit also had to wait its turn as the Pacific Whale Foundation's parade entry passed, sparking murmurs in the crowd of a possible collision between the Superferry float and the foundation's large inflatable whale.

Coincidentally, Hawaii Superferry attorneys had spent the day in court challenging the credibility of Pacific Whale Foundation leader Greg Kaufman, who says the high-speed vessel poses a risk to humpback whales.

The hearing will resume at 9:30 a.m. today, with testimony expected to wrap up early next week.

Meanwhile, Greg Meyers, an attorney for Kaua'i environmentalists challenging the Superferry, said they dropped their remaining claims in Circuit Court yesterday and will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Kaua'i Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano last week rejected their arguments that an environmental assessment must be conducted before the ferry resumes service to Nawiliwili Harbor, finding the complaint was not filed in a timely manner. The Supreme Court appeal will be on the question of timing.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.