TGIFr!day

Week of Friday, December 19, 2014 | Vol. 2, No. 50

Grinds & Da Kines For Your Weekend

SHAKESPEARE PERFORMANCE BY KPAC THIS WEEKEND ‘THE HOBBIT’ • WAIMEA CHRISTMAS PARADE • MERRIMAN’S • CROSSROADS NATIVITY Island Calendar and much, much more!

2 | TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014

IN THIS ISSUE: 2. OUT & ABOUT:

Top picks for the week

3. THEATER: KPAC

4-5. DINING OUT KAUAI: Merriman’s Fish House

6. FLICKS:

‘The Hobbit’

7. THEATER:

Crossroads Nativity

8-9. CHECK DA SCENE: Kauai RSVP

10. ART:

Elizabeth Freeman

10. CELEBRATION: Waimea parade

OUT & ABOUT: TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK FRI SAT SUN FRIDAY NIGHTS WITH SANTA 6:30 TO 8 P.M. STORYBOOK THEATRE Christmas storytelling and snacks.

335-0712 RESTAURANT GUIDEBOOK RELEASE PARTY 5 TO 6:30 P.M. JOSSELIN’S TAPAS BAR AND GRILL Kauai food writer Marta Lane is releasing her new edition of “Tasting Kauai.” A portion of all book sales will go to Hawaii Food Bank, Kauai Branch. $37 includes autographed book, pupus and cocktail.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 6 TO 8 P.M. HISTORICAL COUNTY BUILDING The Festival of Lights runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening through Christmas Eve. See the interior display featuring decorations by artisans. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be available for photos.

Contact Us: www.thegardenilsland.com facebook.com/TheGardenIsland @thegardenisland

HOLIDAY LUNCHEON 11 A.M. TO 1:30 P.M. COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT KAUAI AAUW luncheon Miss Hawaii will be the speaker.

CRAFT SHOW 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M. CHURCH OF THE PACIFIC KAUAI SINGS 7 P.M. KILOHANA LUAU PAVILION Holiday gala showcase of the island’s best singers crooning holiday favorites. Proceeds benefit Malama Pono Health Services. Cash bar and food from Bobby V’s available for purchase. $25 ‘THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD’ 6:30 TO 8:30 P.M. CROSSROADS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP “The Light of the World” Christmas story is presented through a series of lighted stations depicting scenes of Jesus’ birth.

THU

UKULELE CONCERT 3 TO 5 P.M. HANALEI FAMILY COMMUNITY CENTER Hawaiian slack key guitar and ukulele concert. $20 adult, $15 keiki and seniors.

“THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA” 3 P.M. KPAC BLACK BOX THEATRE, (KAUAI HIGH SCHOOL, R-3) The Kauai Performing Arts Center presents “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” directed by Dennis McGraw and performed by the students of Kauai high schools. $8 adults, $6 students.

652-2417 CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA 6:30 P.M. CHURCH OF THE PACIFIC This Christmas extravaganza features different North Shore musicians, singers, and hula dancers.

Kids can visit with and talk story with St. Nick at Storybook Theater in Hanapepe tonight from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

MON TUE WED HULA CLASS 5 P.M. HAWAIIAN CULTURAL CENTER, COCONUT MARKETPLACE Halau Hula O Leilani is having hula classes for ages 4 to 12 at 5 p.m. and teens and wahine at 6:30 p.m. 651-0682 6 TO 7 P.M. KOLOA NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER Beginner female up to 12 years of age.

Class is weekly on Mondays. 645-1403

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Bill Buley | bbuley@thegardenisland.com | 245-0457 TGIFRIDAY EDITOR/CALENDAR: Chloe Marchant | cmarchant@thegardenisland.com | 245-0451 ADVERTISING: displayads@thegardenisland.com | 245-0425 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: tgiclassified@thegardenisland.com | 246-0325

MENORAH LIGHTING 5 P.M. ST. REGIS HOTEL Participate, as we kindle the Tiki-torch Menorah, on the 8th night of Chanukah.

WEIGHT WATCHERS 5:30 P.M. ST. JOHNS EPISCOPAL CHURCH Weekly Weight Watchers Meetings held each Tuesday.

CELTIC CHRISTMAS EVE 5:30 P.M. ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGLES EPISCOPAL CHURCH A evening of music and worship with local musicians followed by a candlelight Celtic service, ending with the Christmas Eve reception.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 6 TO 8 P.M. HISTORICAL COUNTY BUILDING

TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014 | 3

Shops, Restaurants & Services at Ching Young Village:

DARIN MORIKI TGIFR!DAY Photo by Dennis Fujimoto

Majael Cantu, (Silvia), Kapaa. Sera Shimomura (Valentine), Waimea.

KPAC offers groovy twist on Shakespeare

T

ake a classic William Shakespeare play, place it in the 1970s, and mix gender roles so male cast members play female characters and vice versa.

Combine it all well, and what you get is a modern twist on one of Shakespeare’s first plays, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,� which features Waimea, Kapaa, and Kauai High School students directed by Kauai Performing Arts Center Coordinator Dennis McGraw. “Shakespeare truly relates his plays to people and not marked places, times or things, so you can kind of put the people in whatever setting you’d like to and it works,� McGraw said about his decision to set the play in the 1970s.

The annual, joint high school performance kicked off last weekend and will continue this weekend in the KPAC Black Box Theatre in Kauai High School

classroom R-3. Performances today and on Saturday will begin at 7 p.m., while Sunday’s performance will be at 3 p.m.

This year’s production, McGraw said, marks the first time in several years that high school students have taken part in a Shakespeare play. “I really felt that we had very capable and experienced student actors who had been in plays for the past five or six years ever since they were in middle school who could actually handle the Shakespeare,�

McGraw said. “There’s a lot of lines to learn, and basically, it’s a foreign language — it is English, but it’s hard to do it in a way that the audience understands, but I think the kids have done a very good job of it.�

Like other Shakespeare plays, McGraw said “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,� deals with common themes of friendship and infidelity,

conflicts between friendship and love, and the sometimes irrational behavior of people who are in love.

As for why gender roles were swapped for the production, McGraw’s explanation echoed a famous refrain from “Hamlet,� another famous Shakespeare play: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.� “I have more girls interested in acting in the program than boys,� McGraw said. “It’s that simple. Everyone has been real troupers by standing up and doing it by playing the opposite sex — some people may not like doing it, but everyone has had a good time with it and we rehearse with a smile on our face. I think it’s going to be funny.�

Tickets for the weekend shows, available from cast members or at the door, are $8 for adults and $6 for students.

Info: McGraw at: 6512417.

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Celebrate the holidays with award-winning food at

Merriman’s

TASTE OF KAUAI MARTA LANE

M

erriman’s Fish House Executive Chef Mark Arriola is bent over a cutting board preparing tonight’s special.

His version of bibimbap contains homemade kalua pork, plump Kauai Shrimp, organic jasmine rice and a soft-cooked egg gathered from his daughter’s chicken coop.

“I’m going to meet Peter Merriman at his house on Oahu tomorrow for an article in Hana Hou magazine,” he says. “Sunny Savage forages wild food and Native Hawaiian plants. So we are going to make dishes from what she’s gathered.

“I have no idea what it

Fish House

4 | TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014

is. I’ll just have to taste it and go from there,” he adds while slicing thin strips of kampachi bacon, the finishing touch for tonight’s special. The Almaco jack fish is farmed in Kona and Mark has cured it like he would bacon.

Another special for the evening is striped marlin crudo ($16). Rectangles of raw fish are topped with cubes of roasted Molokai sweet potatoes tossed in passion fruit puree. A whisper of minced cilantro,

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Photos by Daniel Lane

Above: Mark prepares tonight’s special made with kampachi bacon. Right: Olive Oil Seared Ono with kale, tomato sauce and Parisian-style gnocchi.

as well as fresh and local corn kernels, are sprinkled over. A final touch of truffled popcorn adds earthy nuttiness to the brightly flavored dish. Underneath, there’s a glowing yellow aji amarillo sauce made with a mild chili pepper that SeriousEats.com describes as, “If there were a chili that tastes like sunshine, this would be it.”

A cascade of juicy flavor makes the Kauai Fresh Farms tomato, Moloaa beets and papaya salad ($13) delightful to eat. Slices of unripe green tomatoes alternate with bright red, ripe tomatoes.

Succulent papaya cubes and sweet beets remind me of a beautiful garden, just on a plate. Creamy macadamia nut vinaigrette and tangy Kauai Kunana Dairy goat cheese turn the yum factor up to scrumptious.

Eating Merriman’s original wok charred ahi ($39) is

TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014 | 5

extra virgin olive oil. Kale is studded with lemon segments, which break down when the kale is sautéed, adding pops of lemon with each bite. Soft and buttery Parisian-style gnocchi are pan-seared so there’s a bit of caramelization on their plump sides.

Recently, Merriman’s Fish House was awarded the 2015 Silver Hale Aina Award for Best Eating Merriman’s Original Wok Charred Ahi is a journey Kauai Restaurant from readers through multiple sensations.

Celebrate the holidays with award-winning food at Merriof Honolulu magazine. You man’s Fish House. rrr Merriman’s Fish House can try their award-winning Marta Lane, a Kauai-based Located in The Shops At food during a four-course “We play around to keep a journey through multifood writer since 2010, is the Kukuiula prefi xed menu for Christmas things exciting, ” Mark says of ple sensations. Rounds of author of “Tasting Kauai: 2829 Ala Kalanikaumaka ($79) and New Year’ s Eve. On Merriman’s seafood specials. cucumber cilantro sauce Road, Koloa Restaurants - An Insider’s Guide Christmas Eve and New Year’ s “Cody also brings us fi sh spiked with wasabi flank 742-8385 to Eating Well on the Garden like snapper, mahi and ono. Eve the regular menu will be a silky puree made from Island.”

When he dives, he brings us accentuated with specials. local heart of palm. Bits of cigar-sized opelu (mackerfragrant black rice, nubs of el), squid or tako (octopus).” crisp pohole (fiddlehead Lee Zeidner trolls befern), diced white onion tween Kauai and Niihau and cubes of fresh tomato add zest and crunch to the using Kauai-made Mark creamy ahi caught by Cody White lures. Her fresh catch is featured in the olive oil Kimura. seared ono ($37). Wahoo easily drys when cooked.

Tuesday to Sunday - 8:30am to 3:00pm To keep it moist, Mark and Closed Monday his staff slow cook it in a paste of basil, garlic and olive oil to 107 degrees. Just before it’s served, the fish is quickly seared and placed on a luxurious yet simple sauce of Kauai Fresh Farms tomatoes, garlic cloves and

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REVIEW ASSOCIATED PRESS JAKE COYLE

‘The Hobbit’ wraps with a Middle-earth melee

W

ith a sum total of 1,032 minutes, Peter Jackson’s six J.R.R. Tolkien films have earned more than $5 billion worldwide. They have made New Zealand synonymous with Middle-earth. And they have slaughtered enough orcs to constitute genocide.

The sheer size of Jackson’s accomplishment — a majestic, fully realized fantasy world, from its lush landscapes down to its hairy feet — is enough to make Cecil B. DeMille blush. Across craggy mountaintops and through enchanted forests, he has set his hobbits, elves and wizards scampering to and fro, always under the threat of greed, ego and selfishness. More than anything, he has taken the stuff of fantasy seriously and rendered Tolkien’s splendid creation with love.

Sadly, all of that was true after Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The subsequent “Hobbit” trio, which is now finally sputtering to an end with “The Battle of the Five Armies,” will inevitably go down as an unneeded, unloved gratuity, a trilogy, like the second “Star Wars” run, to write off as overkill.

The magic, fleeting to start with, is mostly gone. “The Hobbit” might have been a nice little prequel add-on to “The Lord of the Rings,” but by dividing it into three movies, Jackson and company have drained the book’s dramatic momentum.

The first, “An Unexpected Journey,” remains in one’s memory only for its clowncar introduction of the 13 hobbits in an interminable dinner scene I fear is just now approaching dessert.

“The Desolation of Smaug,”

for me the most successfully rollicking of these three, brought in (finally) another woman (Evangeline Lilly’s elf Tauriel) and Benedict Cumberbatch’s glorious dragon.

What most distinguishes “The Battle of the Five Armies” is its relative torpor.

After five films of relentless forward motion, its characters always in perpetual flight, Jackson’s “Hobbit” has, as if out of gas, plopped

down at the Lonely Mountain. Picking up with Smaug’s fiery escape, “Five Armies” caps “The Hobbit” with a Middle-earth melee as all forces gather around Erebor.

The riches inside the mountain draw dwarfs (led

by Richard Armitage’s king Thorin), elves (ruled by Lee Pace’s wonderfully snobbish Thran-duil), a smattering of humans (most notably Luke

Evans’s Bard) and, of course, huge armies of hulking orcs.

All the commotion doesn’t leave much room for Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins. The funny, natural Freeman is one of the best things to hit Jackson’s overly earnest epic (it’s an hour into “Five Armies” before the first chuckle), but he has often been crowded out by the avalanche of characters and CGI effects. Perhaps — and I know this could strike Jackson as incredulous — a battle scene need not be an hour long?

The action, too, comes in Jackson’s preferred 48 frames-per-second (theater options will vary; and the film is also in 3-D), which, in the mission of greater clarity, yields a heightened artificiality. Some believe this high-frame-rate is the future (James Cameron is a fan),

but for now, it’s the greatest evidence that some 15 years down a Hobbit hole — both pleasingly and frustratingly far from reality — have marred Jackson’s vision.

Effects-only shots look fine, but live-action appears like a soap opera.

But maybe it’s time to admire Jackson for his obsessions. He has spent a very long time in Middle-earth and his affection for it hasn’t, for even 1/48th of a moment, ever been in doubt. It is his precious.

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence and frightening images.” Running time: 144 minutes. Two stars out of four.

TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014 | 7

kingofkingsborn is

The Crossroads Living Nativity continues for second year

TOM LAVENTURE TGIFR!DAY

T

he nativity scene is returning again to Crossroads Christian Fellowship.

For the second straight year, the church on Kapaa Bypass Road will hold its live display from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight and Saturday.

Guests can take the circular drive through to view stations that tell the story of Christ’s birth, which will be followed by a program.

“We did this for the first time last year and we had a good response,” said Pastor Bob Hallman. “People were begging for us to do it again.”

People used to drive around the island to view holiday lighting displays, he said, and not as many do that anymore with the cost of electricity, which could be part of the reason the display was so popular.

Visitors can drive by the Roman census taker’s sta-

Pastor Bob Hallman holds the cow’s head inside the creche, or manger scene of the Nativity as Nathan Pearl, youth director, secures the prop.

Photos by Tom LaVenture

Russell Halvapo and Laura Pearl, 12, move the camel props that will appear with the Three Wise Men.

youth director. “It should be a fun few days.”

Those who stay can see a live drama with music inside and activities for children.

About 100 church members, or half the congregation, are involved in the project. The gates open at 6:30 tonight and people can drive by the live nativity stations until 8 p.m. The tent activities will run until 8:30 p.m.

A dozen or so men and women constructed the stations on Sunday.

Inside the church tent on Sunday, there were dozens more getting things ready for the rest of the events Four of the Nativity drama actors, from left, Aaron Drake, that will take place. who will play Joseph, Jessica Meek, who will play Mary, Malie Malie Delacruz, church Delacruz, church administrator and drama director, and Chuck Meek, who will play a Roman soldier. administrator and drama tion, the Bethlehem Inn that had no room for Joseph and Mary, the Three Wise Men and the shepherds making the announcement that the kings of kings was born.

“We want people to come see us,” said Nathan Pearl,

director, said this year they are adding the mini-drama, along with children’s activities to include arts and crafts and singing. The mini-drama will include music and a cast

of 15 actors, with a hula and keiki choir with the song, “Oh, Holy Night.”

“The people here just want to bless the community and telling this story is all

Standing in front of the Nativity scene, from left, Gabriel Susen, who will play the Angel Gabriel, Kea Nacolatabua, who will be the narrator and portray Magi, one of the three kings, and Ben Clawson, spotlights.

part of our outreach,” Delacruz said.

Aaron Drake will play Joseph and Jessica Meek will play Mary. Her father, Chuck Meek, will play a Roman soldier who issues the proclamation for the census in Nazareth.

Kea Nacolatabua is the narrator and will also portray one of the three kings. There were no speaking roles in the first year and this will bring a new element to the experience, he said.

Gabriel Susen will play the angel Gabriel.

“They wanted a big guy with a big voice to play the angel and so here I am,” Susen said.

Ben Clawson plays the drums for the weekend service but will run the spotlights for this production. He said it is his first Christmas on Kauai. Being away from home, this project is a great way to get in the spirit of things.

“This is my first time on this production, and my first Kauai Christmas,” Clawson said.

8 | TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014

CHECK DA SCENE Kealoha Takahashi, Timothy Albao, Mason Chock, Celia MelchorQuestin, Betty Moore - 25 years, Arryl Kaneshiro, Kipukai Kualii, Nadine Nakamura.

Kealoha Takahashi, Celia Melchor-Questin, Timothy Albao, Barbara Miyake - 20 years, Mason Chock, Arryl Kaneshiro, Nadine Nakamura, Kipukai Kualii

5 Years - Bricen Moritsugu, Beverly Muraoka, Kealoha Takahashi, Neil Brosnahan, Sondra Lund, Timothy Albao, Billie Dawson, Carol Saiki-Paler, Celia Melchor-Questin, Sadie Doi, Mason Chock, Marjorie Gifford, Arryl Kaneshiro, Tere Inouye, Kipukai Kuali

Bricen Moritsugu, Beverly Muraoka

Rose Kurita

15 Years - Kealoha Takahashi, Jane Kashiwabara, Timothy Albao, Yone Honjo, Celia Melchor-Questin, Mason Chock, Keith Holdeman, Kipukai Kualii, Edna Holdeman, Arryl Kaneshiro, Adam Carvalho, Nadine Carvalho.

TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014 | 9

DENNIS FUJIMOTO TGIFR!DAY

RSVP Advisory Council - Vern Paler, Kealoha Takahashi, Robert Rivard, Bricen Moritsugu, Timothy Albao, Earl Miyao, Beverly Muraoka, Dorothy Kunioka, Shirley Akita, Deborah Duda, George Mukai, Bridget Arume.

10 Years - Timothy Albao, Kealoha Takahashi, Celia Melchor-Questin, Bob McGinty, Mason Chock, Arryl Kaneshiro, Donald Rapozo, Kipukai Kualii, Katherine Martin, Elvera McCool, Maxima Carveiro, Georgia Lomosad, Julie Bauguess, Nadine Nakamura.

Celebrating kupuna

K Alfonso ‘Gus’ Garcia, Donald Rapozo, Gary Morita, Richard Nakata, Adam Carvalho, Jimmy Oyadomari, Richard ‘Soupbone,’ Jane Kashiwabara.

Kaleo Carvalho, Kealoha Takahashi

ealoha Takahashi had just four words in her remarks during the Kauai RSVP 2014 annual Recognition Day at the Kauai Beach Resort — volunteers have golden hearts!

Nearly 200 of Kauai’s kupuna and their friends and family celebrated the holidays at a luncheon hosted by the county’s Office of Elderly Affairs where volunteers with years of service were acknowledged for their contribution.

Celia Melchor-Question, director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, said last

year there were more than 300 kupuna contributing more than 31,600 volunteer hours at different programs over 25 RSVP volunteer sites around the island.

CongresswomanTulsi Gabbard said volunteers help the county save more than $700,000. Sen. Mazie Hirono, in her remarks delivered by Gerald Ako, said the hours are filled with wisdom and experience which only kupuna can provide.

“This cannot be purchased,” Hirono said.

“They must be given, and these volunteers have golden hearts.”

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Something from nothing Freeman turns trash to treasure

averie soto TGIFR!DAY

F

or 18 years, Kauai’s Festival of Lights has enchanted people with its luminous displays.

But many people who adore the decorations may not know the story of the woman who brought the sets together.

Her name is Elizabeth Freeman. Ever since she was a child, she was an artist who took on a unique form by creating works out of objects others may see as garbage.

“I remember making adobe bricks,” said Freeman. “We were studying the Spanish missions in California made out of adobe, and I snuck all the little drawer match boxes out of the house and I used those little drawers to pat adobe mud into. I don’t think there were any matches left in the house, but I got forms for the adobe bricks. So, from my earliest memory, I considered myself an artist.”

Freeman’s love of art followed her into adulthood.

Contributed photo

Elizabeth Freeman, inside her dazzling installation at the Historic County Building. Freeman calls the display the “Architecture of Light and Aloha” and has been her primary art form for the last 18 years.

After she graduated from UCLA, she worked for an environmental communications company in the graphics and art department.

Freeman also expanded her passion into the performance arts and founded a company in California called

“For the Lure of the Sea tree I wanted to experiment with creating sea anemones. This was a coke can I pulled from the trash while visiting in the Eastern Sierras in October.”

“Some Serious Business” with two of her friends. They helped find the best performance spaces for the artists and promoted 60 artists in three years.

“Art doesn’t need to be hung on a wall and it doesn’t have to be a sculpture being in your garden,” said Freeman. “Art takes you some place else; it takes you out of your everyday life.”

Freeman also created stitched patterns, one of which has been displayed in the Smithsonian, and traveled throughout the museum for five years. She has also been featured in The Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

The artist moved with her son to Kauai from California

in 1985. In 1996, they discovered the treasure known as Aunty Josie’s Christmas House. Freeman and her son adored the lights and decorations made from household materials.

But when Aunty Josie’s husband passed away, she decided to sell her Christmas decorations. Freeman purchased all of the pieces and spoke with then-mayor Maryanne Kusaka about donating the art to the county. Delighted, Kusaka asked Freeman if she could set up the art work should a building be found. After collaborating with the County Council, Kauai’s Historic County Building was chosen for the displays and, through Freeman’s direction, the

Festival of Lights was born.

When people come in from the dark into the light, they are enveloped in a cocoon of light.

“It’s something you feel in

“I wanted to create butterflies that would hover over our tree that’s filled with plastic water bottle flowers.

I began experimenting with bottles.”

your heart,” Freeman said.

Many people aided Freeman with the festival and thanks to her art direction, the students from the Kapaa Interact Club and the Kauai High Academy of Hospitality and Tourism fashioned ornaments for the festival’s Christmas trees.

Some of these ornaments include grass huts made of cardboard boxes and Hawaiian print cloth, sparkling butterflies made of plastic bottles and CDs with designs over their metallic surface and jewels in their centers.

Others who helped with the displays include citizens Pam Hoffman and Tevita Manu Fonua.

“They’re making something from nothing and that’s a very empowering experience, and if you can do that with that, then you can do anything you want in your life,” said Freeman.

Freeman will continue to establish the Festival of Lights in the future and wishes to provide children and adults with an experience they’ll treasure. The building is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m, through December, including Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas.

“I’m planting the seeds of memory in children,” Freeman said. “I’m not just thinking about the present time. I’m planting the seeds for wonderful memories of holiday magic that children will always have with them.

Just as I remember lying under that tree thinking the world was magic.”

TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014 | 11

tom laventure TGIFR!DAY

Photos by Dennis Fujimoto

Above: Youngsters are dressed in the traditional garb while portraying the nativity scene as it passes along the decorated Subway Sandwiches building during the 2013 Waimea Lighted Parade.

Bottom left: Spectators watch as the Waimea High School JrROTC color guard present the colors ahead of the 2013 Waimea Lighted Parade.

Waimea Christmas parade and party

H

oliday events contin- from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday. ue this weekend with Sponsored by the the 20th Waimea West Kauai Business and Professional Association Kukui Kalikimaka Huakai and other area merchants, (Lighted Christmas Parade) the outdoor event is child friendly and free.

The traditional celebrate always takes place the last Saturday before Christmas.

“Our grand marshal is aunty Aletha Kaohi of Waimea, one of our Westside community treasures who will lead the parade,” said Parade Chair Esther Estes. “She will be flanked

by Harleys from Kauai Harley-Davidson/Kawasaki.”

The floats and marching groups start from Waimea Canyon Middle School at

6:15 p.m., and go through the heart of Waimea Town via Huakai Street, turning right onto Waimea Canyon Drive, then left onto Kaumualii Highway before reaching Hofgaard Park.

The event will also for its first gingerbread house display.

Waimea businesses that had their storefronts lighted by Wednesday will be judged in various categories and awarded certificates in a ceremony.

“If you bring your own camera, Santa will be available for picture taking,” Estes added.

Waimea merchants will have food for sale and

Dupont Pioneer is bringing popcorn machines to give out free popcorn.

The Waimea Christmas party will take place after the parade at Hofgaard Park. There will be crafts, food and venders, along with live music and entertainment, including The Blond Boys. They will entertain the crowd from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

“It is WKBPA’s last event of 2014 and one of the biggest on the Westside,” Estes said. “Please come and join us for this festive occasion.”

Info: Esther Estes at 6520927, email estesaloha@ hawaii.rr.com or visit www. wkbpa.com.

Photo by Tom LaVenture

Luna Lilo, 18, plays the ukulele while posted at the Waimea Big Save for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign on Monday. The Big Island resident is undergoing a one-year discipleship with a portion on Kauai through next August before going to Oahu to complete studies.

12 | TGIFR!DAY | December 19, 2014

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