NHERC to host plantation era celebration
The Heritage Center at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s North Hawaii Education and Research Center will host a free, public celebration of the rich plantation era history of Honokaa and the Hamakua region during the Hamakua Sugar Plantation Days Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on the lawn of the Rickard House (currently the Salvation Army), at 45 Rickard Place on Mamane St. in Honokaa.
The event will include ethnic presentations, displays and food from the Portuguese, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese and Puerto Rican communities. Entertainment will feature a concert with Darlene Ahuna, Bulla Kailiwai, Maelan Abran and Ryan Hiraoka, along with Puerto Rican kachi-kachi music. Free screenings of plantation-era films will be held at the Honokaa People’s Theater from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This festival is sponsored by the NHERC Heritage Center and made possible through funding from Hawaii County’s Department of Research and Development in collaboration with diverse community organizations.
For more information, call 640-8114.
Free screenings of HIKO NO award nominees planned
Top stories from the past season of HIKI NO, PBS Hawaii’s statewide student news network, will be shown at two free public screenings.
Pre-screening red carpet receptions begin at 3 p.m. followed by the screenings at 4 p.m. Saturday at Palace Theater in Hilo and Sunday at Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu. All of the stories in the festival have been nominated for the 2015 HIKI NO Awards. Five of the 34 nominated schools are on Hawaii Island.
Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Kealakehe High School, Konawaena High School, Kua o ka La Public Charter School Milolii Hipuu Virtual Academy and Waiakea High School are five of 34 schools statewide to be showcased. The festival honors student-created video stories that aired last school year on HIKI NO, PBS Hawaii’s student news program.
HIKI NO award winners will be determined through numeric scoring by a panel of veteran industry professionals and will be announced via live stream Sept. 24 at pbshawaii.org. The winning school in each category will receive $1,000 in equipment from B&H Photo, plus the HIKI NO Shooting Star Award trophy.
Kealakehe High School was nominated in the Best Personal Profile – High School Division for “Red Cross Volunteer.” Kua o ka La Public Charter School Milolii Hipuu Virtual Academy was nominated for best home-base school, high school division and for best news writing, high school division for “Mauna Kea TMT.” Hawaii Preparatory Academy was nominated in best cinematography high school and middle school combined for “Waipio Valley Taro” while Waiakea High School was nominated for “Two Ladies Kitchen.” In the best overall story category, high school division, Konawaena High School was nominated for “Sticking With Lacrosse” and Waiakea High School was nominated for “ACL Injuries.”