Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1988 — Fourth Annual Founder's Day Celebrations [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
Fourth Annual Founder's Day Celebrations
Making Rainbow Connection Kahikolu Event
By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA It was a day to make a rainbow connection with someone you loved, a day to have fun and relax and a day of sharing with one another while enjoying five solid hours of continuous Hawaiian entertainment, hula and lots of memories. The 11 groups and individuals who performed had their own connections with the late Aunti Maiki Aiu Lake in whose honor the Fourth Annual Founder's Day attracted more than 2,500 on Memorial Day, May 30, to Kahikolu, the memorial garden dedicated to the founder of Halau Hula o Maiki on the campus of St. Francis High School in Manoa. Virtually all of those who performed were touched in some way in their association with Aunti Maiki, more especially as a student of her halau. lt was fitting, therefore, that another large outpouring of her "graduates" eame to join the thoiisands of others in honoring her. Together they put on another warm and most enjoyable program well worth the $10 admission donation, net profits of whieh will go into Aunti Maiki's dream of a school building where all people ean eome to leam Hawaii's culture and history through song and dance. And when the Brothers Cazimero, the Gentlemen of Na Kamalei and the women of Na Pualei O Likolehua vvith Leina'ala Kalama Heine closed the program a little past the 4 p.m. closing hour, time didn't matter to the still large crowd that remained to the end. They enjoyed the show and the cause it represented. They enjoyed the $4 plate luneh of laulau, generous portions of teriyaki ehieken, rice or poi and haupia or plenty of shoyu ehieken with oodles of noodles. There also was a wide selection of na mea ono home-baked goodies ranging from cookies, brownies, eup cakes, cakes to bread and other things. Even mountain apples were for sale via donation. There were balloons to make your own personal rainbow connection, shave iee and leis for sale. It was a niee, balmy warm day with enough of a breeze to make it comfortable and a very light sprinkle at mid-afternoon to add a little variation. It wasn't your bright lights and spruced up kind of show. It was down home, ohana and aloha all mixed together. The crowd was given bonus treats time and again as many professional exponents of the hula were in the crowd and needed little coaxing in volunteering a number or two. That's the way it went all day and the crowd soaked it up. Another bonus was the appearance of singer Emma Veary who thrilled the crowd with three beautiful selections while Randall Ngum did an interpretive dance on two of them. He also danced to the chanting of his sister, Shawna, in his Hawaiian presentations. Two beautiful horses from Kawena Corporation stood by and watched as the young girls of the halau did a paniolo number, "Hu'ehu'e," telling of life on the Hawaii ranch. The men of the halau also entertained the crowd in their paniolo routine. All of the dancers were dressed in bright red palaka shirts, indicating a pronounced presence of palaka power. Four groups performing for the first time were Na Wahine No Me Ka Ha'aha'a Mai Maiki, Kumu Hula Karen Aiu Costa, a daughter of Aunti Maiki and sister of Kumu Hula Coline Aiu Ferranti of Halau Hula O Maiki; St. Theresa's Hula Halau, Kumu Hula Momi Aarona Kepilino; and the group Kilauea, Joe DeFreis, Kenneth Fisher, Leighton Kawai, Keala Montervon; and Kumu Hula John Keola Lake's Na Hanona O Ka Halau Hula Pa Ola Kapu, St. Louis School. Victor and Kuulei Punua and their Hula Halau O Kuulei Punua from Kaua'i peformed Tahitian and Hawaiian dances with the largest contingent of dancers assembled for this annual event. Halona, a group whieh appears every year in providing up
front and supportive entertainment, again did outstanding work. Manu Palama, Kimo Alama and Manny Kaehuaea form the nucleus of the group with Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Kevin M.K. (Chubby) Mahoe oftentimes being the fourth member of the group. Mahoe again handled some of the master of ceremonies duties as he does every year. There was a 1.6-mile Hula Malie fun run/walk whieh officially opened the program, covering a distance from Puck's Alley to Kahikolu. The first male runner across the finish line was Norman Nagata, a state worker with the Department of
Agriculture. The first woman finisher was Cathy Ogino who works in the cardiac monitoring section of Queen's Medical Center. The day ended with the release of hundreds of colored balloons, certainly a colorful finish to an outstanding program.
Karen Aiu Costa, a daughter of Aunti Maiki, of Na Wahine No Me Ka Ha'aha'a Mai Maiki, at far left, dances with members of her halau.
Coline Aiu Ferranti, left, and Lee Pua-Keala Mann, of Halau Hula O Maiki pause a moment from their busy rounds of running the Fourth Annual Founder's Day Celebration at Kahikolu.
The girls of Halau Hula O Maiki in their paniolo attire dancing to "Hu'ehu'e."
Hundreds of balloons are released, adding to the colorful spectacle of the event.