It was a people's parade.

Many of the marchers were in shorts and T-shirts. In some groups, their T-shirts matched. In others, it was come as you are.

This year's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade down Kalakaua Avenue was about as homespun and folksy as a parade can get in glossy Waikiki, but it was shining with excitement. It was a joyful day.

Miles and time zones, ocean and continent away from the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Waikiki on Monday became a tenable connection, a satellite celebration of all the good and hopeful things this new era in America symbolizes.

A brass band from a Samoan Christian Church played from the back of a truck. A guy in 1970s-era corduroy Lightning Bolt shorts played 'ukulele and sang "We Shall Overcome." Singing school children pulled younger students in little red wagons.

Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity chanted. A high school band from the Hopi Nation marched. A Hare Krishna group gave out snacks. Some brought their dogs to join in the marching. If you think of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the huge inflatable cartoon characters and professional entertainers with elaborate choreography, this was the exact opposite, and it was great.

There were only a few floats, and the ones that did roll down Kalakaua were simple things: coconut leaves stapled to pieces of lumber, a sign and some potted plants. One of the more showy floats wasn't even on a truck. It was pulled along by ropes held by marchers. Nobody threw their candy or little favors; instead, they walked up to spectators and handed it to them and said hello.

Even the groups protesting something — the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the commercial development of O'ahu's North Shore — shouted slogans in an ebullient, congenial way.

But what stood out, what will be remembered and repeated to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, were the tears falling on Kalakaua Avenue and in Kapi'olani Park. Everywhere you looked, people were dabbing at the corner of their eyes, leaking the emotion that was too big to hold in. It was a day when tears were proof of the strength of humanity, not a sign of human weakness.

Not everyone could go to the inauguration. Work, family, finances — all those realities get in the way of even big, world-changing events sometimes. But way out here at home, that wave of excitement hit Waikiki shores Monday and it was a wonder to behold.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.