HONOKAA — The second annual Sakada Day celebration will be held this Sunday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the North Hawaii Education and Research Center (NHERC). The event is free and open to the public.
Sakada Day was enacted by the 2015 State Legislature to recognize those contract workers, or sakadas, who were recruited by the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association from the Philippines from 1906-1946. During this span of 40 years, more than 120,000 Filipinos arrived in Hawaii to work in the sugar and pineapple fields on all the islands. Of significance to the Big Island, the first 15 sakadas were assigned to the Olaa Sugar Mill.
Exhibits of plantation artifacts and photographs of plantation life will be on display at NHERC. Filipino music, dances and songs will be performed by a variety of local talents. There will also be demonstrations on how to make parols (Christmas stars), cook Filipino salads and desserts, and create flower arrangements. One workshop will be on the many uses of plants brought from the Philippines.
Info: Call Romel Dela Cruz at 775-0768 or 937-9478