Isle hula dancers Hawaii resident Heather Balagso said she hardly recognized the year-old site of the fallen World Trade Center in Manhattan, as her hula halau returned to perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
find NYC mood
better this year
Old Lahaina Luau members
dance today in the Macy's paradeBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com"It's a better feeling than what it was last year," said Balagso, a Maui resident and member of the Old Lahaina Luau. "Last year, it was terrible. It was so depressing."
Hawaii residents who were in New York to participate in the annual parade said they sensed a renewed strength and spirit in the Big Apple, where about 2,795 people died in terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
While the painful memories linger, the city is considering ideas on developing a memorial at the trade center site and on rebuilding to provide commercial space, including a hotel and convention center.
"As far as Ground Zero, it's cleaned out," said Michael Moore, a partner of Old Lahaina Luau. "I have to say New York is still as vibrant as ever. It's a great city."
Old Lahaina Luau will be the fifth float in the parade, which will be aired starting 9 a.m. today on KHNL TV.
Old Lahaina Luau team leader Jamie Debrunner said her group put off visiting Manhattan firefighters because they wanted to observe Thanksgiving quietly this year.
"They kind of wanted to be with themselves," Debrunner said. "They really haven't had time to go through their own mourning period."
Debrunner said the dance troupe visited two senior centers and a center for homeless children yesterday in Manhattan, where they entertained and delivered leis and gifts.
She said the dancers also spent part of the day enjoying themselves and watching the Macy's balloons being inflated in Central Park.
Some 20 hula dancers, along with Kahu Charles Kaupu, will be performing on a three-tiered float featuring a 26-foot-high replica of a volcano as they ride through Manhattan past an estimated 2 million people.
Maui teenagers Rachel Burgess and Leialoha McNamara will be among more than 600 cheerleaders marching with the Universal Cheerleaders Association toward the front of the parade.
Burgess' father, Smokey, said the family plans to visit Ground Zero this week for the first time -- a place that has both historical and emotional ties to them.
Burgess, who grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., said a friend told his family how she went through five terrifying hours of not knowing what happened to her daughter, who had been on the 50th floor of the second collapsed building.
He said that luckily, the daughter had the presence of mind to leave the building.
"The daughter said for whatever reason, something in her said to get out, and she did," he said.
"You start reflecting on things. You start to think about those who are getting an unfortunate holiday because of those who didn't make it."
Kaupu said when he and the dancers visited the site of the devastation last November, he chanted a prayer blessing for all mankind.
"It's basically a blessing for people, for a long life, for doing things that should be done and doing the right thing and making the right choices," he said.
Kaupu said although the group has not visited Ground Zero this year, prayer is an everyday occurrence with him, and he has prayed about the tragedy.
"The thought is to find ourselves outside of this mess and to find compassion for each other and understanding, and hope that through the process we can live peacefully, without any threats or without threatening anybody else."