Waimea Christmas Parade

Given the distinct lack of snowy winter weather, folks here make up for it by going all out Hawaiian style for Christmas. On Kauai, Waimea may well have the biggest celebration of all. All afternoon, chairs appeared along the main drag (Kuhio Highway) parade route but by late afternoon the police had shut down traffic, and in the town center they began a community raffle ($10 topped the bidding for the First Place Gingerbread House).

Over forty parade entries featured mostly electrically lit floats of varying size and shapes, along with bands, marching ROTC, baton twirlers, Santas, and more.

Big presences were the PMRF (Pacific Missle Range Facility military installation out past Kekaha) and Pioneer (high tech plant genetics) both of which are well-funded and want very much to engender good will with the local populace. Many churches, community groups, and local businesses turned out with in some cases quite elaborate floats. The parade began just as dark fell so my efforts to shoot photos were largely doomed: I was able to shoot some later as the entire parade lineup was parked and available for viewing at the other end of town later on. Some notables:

• PMRF drove their very high tech fire and rescue vehicles in the parade.
• Grove Farm mounted their small gauge steam locomotive on a truck trailer for the parade [video, 0:30].
• A fancy Angry Birds themed float (no moving parts though I'm sure they considered it).
• "Hogs vs. Dogs" a.k.a. the Annual Island-wide Dog and Knife Tournament.

Riding on the back of the last parade vehicle were my friends from the West Kauai Visitor Center, Aletha and Carrie. They had helped organize launching the parade vehicles in an orderly fashion from the west end of town and managed a ride back to town.

After the parade there was a musical performance on a nice big stage trucked in for the occasion. Mostly Hawaiian music of course, with some Christmas music and some eclectic selections as well. Throughout the show, kids had congregated in the open area in front of the stage, running around, jumping at the bubbles (from machines set up there), dancing and what have you.

Benjamin at far end of the stage

The highlight of the night - and did I ever miss a YouTube chance not video taping it - was when the band invited one kid up on stage. "Warriors #30, you've been tearing it up on the asphalt there. Come up on stage and dance this next number for us." Benjamin (8) came up looking a little wary at first, but when the music started he began to do his thing and the audience loved it. Encouraged he showed us his moves, the band loved it and was having a hard time not cracking up, but kept on playing. A lady ran up and gave Benjamin a dollar, and then more people followed suit, and by the end he got a tremendous ovation. The band thanked him, joking, "You count that money, Benjamin, and later you tell Uncle how much we made."