CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM The annual King Kamehameha Floral Parade moved through the streets of downtown and Waikiki yesterday. Donald Nakao Dilliner made his way down the parade route as king while surrounded by his royal court.

Aloha flows at
Kamehameha
Floral Parade

Spectators and participants enjoy a colorful tradition

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

The annual King Kamehameha Floral Parade strolled through Waikiki yesterday with shouts of "aloha" shared between spectators and the pau riders and honored guests.

For Greg Planas, shading himself from the noontime sun, it was a shout of "Spray us!" directed at the yellow fire engine strutting before the crowd.

Planas, who was visiting from Kapaa with his family, was watching his first King Kamehameha parade in Honolulu since the 1970s. Kauai had its own parade yesterday, "but it's not as big as this," he said.

"Two trucks and a car," he joked.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Spectators watched the Royal Hawaiian Band as it passed Iolani Palace.

His daughter Julie, 9, said her favorite part was the horses because "they wear flowers (and are) beautifully decorated."

Seated in a shady spot nearby, Frank Dunkus of Springfield, Ill., was admiring the costumes.

"Ladies on the horses with the fancy outfits, that's one of the highlights so far," said Dunkus, a first-time visitor to the islands.

Among the ladies Dunkus was referring to was pau rider Reynola Kama-Newman, an Oahu resident who rode with the Big Island unit.

Kama-Newman said she has watched the parade since childhood and has been involved off and on through the years, marching with her high school band, making lei and participating as a pau rider with the Kauai unit last year.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Queen Leinaala Billie Akina held out a lei to the crowd during yesterday's parade.

"It's very much an honor to ride in this parade," said Kama-Newman, who traces her genealogy back to King Kamehameha I.

Kama-Newman, who admired pau riders as a child, said becoming one herself was a "dream come true."

Her daughter, Valorie-Johnelle Kama-Newman, aspires for the same dream.

"Oh, yeah," the 14-year-old said.

"I look at her when she rides in the parade and I want to be with her. I'm going to ride with her one of these days."