TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Unless you're here, the place to be for a weekend of all things Hawaiian is Las Vegas. Las Vegas doesn’t stop
at Aloha FridayBeginning with the Aloha World Gathering 2001 and ending with the Las Vegas Hoolaulea, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21-23, will be chock full of Hawaiian food, crafts, food, entertainment, food -- well, you get the idea.
The hoolaulea at Lorenzi Park is officially called the 2001 Pacific Islands Festival Hoolaulea. Staged jointly by the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club and the city's Cultural and Community Affairs Division, it is in its 11th year, according to Darren Copeland, who is coordinating the "Cultural Village" portion of the event.
"There are close to 140 booths for food, crafts and clothing, and we've also got nonstop entertainment," Copeland said. Some will feature hands-on cultural activities from ti leaf and lauhala weaving to making ipu, feather lei and kahili. Along more commercial lines, vendor space is booked solid, according to the message on event Chairwoman Bessie Mann's telephone.
Free daytime entertainment includes hula, Tahitian and Maori dance, a Chinese Lion Dance, "Island R&B," and Hawaiian Reggae. However, $10 (presale) buys admission to the Saturday night concert featuring Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku, and headliners Maunalua, winners of the Hoku award for best Hawaiian album of 2001. The civic club's Web site is at http://www.lvhcc.org.
On Hoolaulea eve, Sept. 21, the Aloha World Gathering will celebrate its second annual event at Tropics Broiler & Bar on Decatur Boulevard. Sponsored by AlohaWorld.com, Las Vegas-based Ohana Magazine, Island Girl Marketing Inc. and California-based Hawaii Job Force.com, it's a decidedly smaller event.
Local company Creations by Kanani will be among the vendors peddling Hawaiian wear and other wares, and attendees ordering tickets hail from far-flung places such as Nebraska, Arizona, California and Hawaii, as well as Nevada.
The event organizer is Los Angeles-based Aloha World LLC co-owner Tony "Koni" Kwak, raised in Kalihi, living in LA.
He started the Web site in 1998 to build "a home on the Web for all those who have left Hawaii so they can find they're not alone." His partner and co-owner is Izzie Ramos, raised in Kaneohe, living in Georgia. Some have used the "Lost Ohana" section to find and reconnect with family and friends, and stay in touch using free local-kine e-cards.
Ex-pats with "onos" for local food can fill the need and tummies with what Kwak believes is the largest collection of local recipes on the Web. "I know of 300-plus," he said.
The company designs and hosts Web sites for companies in Hawaii and on the mainland, Kwak said. "One of our newest clients is the State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com