KAILUA-KONA — Sitting on the steps to Gertrude’s Jazz Bar, Patrick Kono shared a shave ice with his son as they awaited the start of the annual King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade.
“When I was younger I did watch parades, but up to a certain point,” Kono said. “Now I want him to have that, watch the parade, check out all the cool things that we usually don’t get to see or be around. … Everything keeps you busy in this world, so it’s nice to have a good family day.”
The parade also marked an opportunity to see his other half’s family, Kono said. Because he lives in Kona and they live down in Ocean View, he added, it’s a good day to get everyone together.
“Not every day people get to sit down and celebrate and give thanks,” he said. “Today’s a nice day, especially with what’s going on with all the volcano and stuff, so it’s good to take a time and give thanks to the island and everything and just be thankful in a way.”
Kono and his son were one of countless families taking the morning to line the parade route, which ran from Old Kona Airport Park to near the Royal Kona Resort. Along the way, narrators like Sheri Wahinekapu shared stories about the parade, local history and culture as well as drawing attention to parade participants as they made their way down the route.
Wahinekapu said her role is to make sure everyone who comes to Hawaii leaves knowing the real Hawaii.
“It’s not like going to Disney World and go through it and you’re done,” she said. “We want people to understand our culture, that it’s still alive, our language is still alive and our attempt to perpetuate it is by participating in things like this.”
The parade then is an opportunity, she said, to show those unfamiliar with Hawaii what happens here “on the home-grown level.”
“Not the luaus at the resorts, not the Waikiki things,” she said. “But the neighbor islands have a lot more home-grown lifestyle to share.”
And for those who grew up watching pa‘u units and the other participants make their way along the route, the King Kamehameha Day Celebration Parade is something they can share with their own children.
“It’s exciting — still exciting like I’m a little kid,” said Ina Ynigues, who brought his 4-year-old daughter Leeann Yanagi to the parade. “Just like I remember it when my dad used to bring me to this.”
The parade also represents something that has remained constant even while the community has changed and grown.
“It’s continued education,” said Lani Sonson of the annual celebration. “Because everything keeps changing in our town, but things like this like the Kamehameha Parade will not change.”
Sonson said her niece would be dancing with Halau Kala‘akeakauikawekiu at the Ho‘olaule‘a following the parade and said the annual celebration is a great opportunity to bring local residents together and educate visitors about Hawaiian culture.
“And it just brings out the aloha in everyone,” she added.
And seeing her niece perform with the halau, Sonson said, fills her with pride.
“It’s a way for them to learn as they continue to learn the songs and the moves and the dance,” she said.
Ynigues also noted the significance of what celebrating Kamehameha I means and represents for the community.
“It’s the man who started the Hawaiian islands,” said Ynigues. “So we represent him. Everybody in this parade represents him and what he did and how he joined the islands together.”
And like Sonson and Kono, Ynigues said the day is also just a great way to get everyone together as a community.
“And that’s what you want: you want something that’s going to bring community, because without your community, you have nothing. You don’t have an island,” he said. “It’s just going to make it like the mainland: you have this there, this there — groups. But you don’t want groups, you want everybody to live as one.”
Parades are fun. But, why would we ever honor a guy who killed tens of thousands of his own people in order to steal all the Islands for himself and his family?