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Pan-Pacific Festival
Japanese folk dancers will be among the entertainers at the
Performing Arts Festival at McKinley High School Saturday.

Parties, parades highlight
Pan-Pacific Festival

Okinawa Center fest

Star-Bulletin

A ho'olaule'a with performers from Japan and Hawaii will open the weekend's 21st Annual Pan-Pacific Festival -- Matsuri.

The festival also will feature a parade, traditional Japanese folk singing and dancing, karaoke, storytelling and golf.

Four stages will be spaced along Kalakaua Avenue tomorrow for the ho'olaule'a, which will be headlined by the Hoku-award winning group, Kapena. There also will be street performers and ethnic food booths. The party will run from 6:30 to 10 p.m.

Star-Bulletin file photo
Shinji Kawamura of the taiko drum group Toba
Kukisuigin Daiko opens last year's Pan- Pacific
festivities in Waikiki.

Other Matsuri events:

June 9

Ballroom dance -- 7 to 10 p.m. at Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse. Tickets are $5. Repeats Saturday. Call 926-8177.

June 10

Omatsuri hiroba (outdoor performance) -- 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:50 p.m. at Ala Moana Center stage. Repeats 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Performing arts festival -- 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at McKinley High School Auditorium. Traditional folk music and dancing, taiko drumming. Tickets are $10 and available by call 926-8177 or at the Kintetsu International Hawaii Company Tour Lounge, Ala Moana Hotel.

Ground golf tournament -- 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ala Moana Park. A variation of the game is played in two rounds of eight holes each on flat grass. Free. No registration needed.

June 11

Karaoke festival -- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ala Moana Hotel's Garden Lanai Banquet Room. Tickets are $1. Call 947-1750.

Rakugo (storytelling) -- 10 a.m. to noon at Kapiolani Community College cafeteria. Free.

Pan-Pacific parade -- 5 to 7 p.m., along Kalakaua Avenue from Fort DeRussy to Kapiolani Park. Costumed performers, marching bands, taiko drums.

General information: 926-8177.

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Okinawa Center fest

The Hawaii Okinawa Center will mark its 10th anniversary Saturday with a day of free festivities, beginning at 10 a.m. with the release of 110 rainbow-colored pigeons, and a parade of clubs with their banners, paranku drummers and musicians.

The 110 pigeons commemorate the 100 years since the first Okinawan immigrants arrived in Hawaii and the 10 years that have passed since the center's opening.

The opening festivities will be followed by an open house 10:20 to 11:45 a.m. with several crafts demonstrations. At noon, the 120-member Nishihara Senior High School marching band from Okinawa will show their award-winning form. The group has been named the best marching band in Japan for a second year. Following the band's performance, a helicopter will fly over and drop its shower of flowers.

The formal program runs 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. with a Hawaiian chant, speeches and toasts.

Entertainment by Hawaii and Okinawa performers will continue 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Food booths will sell andagi, chili, beef stew and Dr. Terry Shintani's vegetarian nishime.

Information: 676-5400.

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