STAR-BULLETIN FILE PHOTO
The Aloha Festivals' theme this year will be
Hoohanohano I Na Holokai, or "Honor the
Voyagers," with the "ambassador of aloha" this
year scheduled to be Polynesian navigator Nainoa
Thompson. Claude Onizuka, brother of Hawaii
astronaut Ellison Onizuka who died in the explosion
of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986, is
slated to be the grand marshal of the floral parade.
Above, the Halau Hula 'O Kawaili'ula performs at
the Aloha Festivals' 1999 investiture ceremony.

Aloha Festivals gets
$200,000 infusion

Bank of Hawaii and American
Express donate cash and services
to ensure the event's survival

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Early this year Aloha Festivals, the former Aloha Week, was worried if it could make it through the year. Now Bank of Hawaii and its new partner in the credit card business, American Express, have put up at least $200,000 in cash and services to make sure it does.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Aloha Festivals' 2001 ribbon goes on sale tomorrow.

The companies have committed to the same amount, or about one-fifth of the festivals' $1 million annual budget, for 2002 and 2003. The commercial donors' partnership is second only to the $300,000 commitment of the state-funded Hawaii Tourism Authority.

At the start of this year, due to two years of slow sales for Aloha Festival ribbons, shirts and baseball caps, the program was in the "most difficult financial position in the 55-year history" since Aloha Week was founded, Gilbert Butson, a real estate attorney and 2001 festivals president, told a news conference at Bank of Hawaii yesterday.

Now Bank of Hawaii and American Express have stepped in with a donation of money and services to save the program, he said.

Aloha Festivals provides hundreds of free family events and some 400,000 join in the street parties -- the downtown Hoolaulea Sept. 14 and the Waikiki Hoolaulea Sept. 21. In between, there's the annual parade through Waikiki on Sept. 15, and there are events on all islands as well as discounts or free admissions everywhere for ribbon wearers, Butson said.

Lori L. McCarney, Bank of Hawaii executive vice president and director of marketing, products and communications, said the donation from the bank is in line with the opinions of Michael E. O'Neill, who took over in November as chairman and chief executive officer of Bank of Hawaii's parent, Pacific Century Financial Corp.

"As Mike O'Neill has told us, Hawaii is our core market. It's a very important market for us," McCarney said, and that is why the bank supports a program that promotes Hawaii as strongly as Aloha Festivals does.

Tom Mullen, director of consumer service travel and establishment services for American Express in Hawaii, said his company signed on to help make Aloha Festivals this year "bigger and better" than it has ever been.

Actions his company will take include sending an eight-page "travel planner" in the coming weeks to 900,000 West Coast residents promoting Aloha Festivals as a good time to visit Hawaii.

There is a close connection between Bank of Hawaii and American Express because of the bank's sale in December of its credit card business to American Express.

Sales of the $5 yellow ribbons that let hundreds of people attend free or discounted Aloha Festivals events begin tomorrow at retail outlets and other distributors throughout the islands.

The theme this year is Hoohanohano I Na Holokai, or "Honor the Voyagers," Butson said.

The "ambassador of aloha" this year is Polynesian navigator Nainoa Thompson and the grand marshal of the floral parade is Claude Onizuka, brother of Hawaii astronaut Ellison Onizuka, who died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986.