Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1986 — Electric Light in Hawaii Marks Centennial July 21 [ARTICLE]

Electric Light in Hawaii Marks Centennial July 21

A public invitation to participate in the Centennial of Electric Light on Monday, July 21, has been extended by Hawaii's kamaaina Hawaiian Electric Company. The event takes plaee at 6:15 p.m. at the Keliiponi Hale (House to Anoint the Chief) coronation pavilion. The centennial commemorates the first public demonstration of electricity on Oahu whieh took plaee the evening of July 21, 1986, before King Kalakaua himself. This was just seven years after Thomas Edison introduced the incandescent light bulb to the world. "The foresight of Kalakaua" is the centennial's theme and will feature commemorative music by Palani Vaughan, the Royal Hawaiian Band and the Hawaiian Electric Employees Glee Club. Accounts of the historical moment found in the next morning's Pacific Commercial Advertiser clearly eapture the moment: "Shortly after 7 o'eloek last night the electricity was turned on, and, as soon as darkness increased, the vici-

nity of Palaee Square was flooded with a soft but brilliant light, whieh turned the night into day . . . By 8 o'eloek an immense crowd had gathered. Before 9 o'eloek the Royal Hawaiian Military Band commenced playing and the Military Companies soon marched into the Square. The battalion drill took plaee under the command of his Majesty the King . . . The evolutions of tne battalion could be clearly seen by the aid of electric lights . . . "A tea party was given under the auspices of the Society for the Education of Hawaiian Children organized by Her Royal Highness the Princess Liliuokalani and Her Royal Highness the Princess Likelike. . .The Palaee brightly illuminated, and the large crowd moving among the trees and tents made a pretty picture." Thus did the electric lights first glow in Honolulu, exactly 100 years ago eome July 21, 1986. Commemorate the moment beginning at 6:15 p.m. on the grounds of lolani Palaee.