|
TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Celebrating Wahiawa’s
sweet and prickly pastThe mighty pineapple takes center stage April 17 in Wahiawa for the annual Pineapple Run and a community Pineapple Festival.
The Hawaii Marketing Alliance is organizing the festival with the hope that a community organization will take it over and turn it into an annual event. Its goal is to bring attention to the history of pineapple in Hawaii and to celebrate all things pineapple.
"A lot of people drive by Wahiawa and for a lot of people it's just a landmark on the way to the North Shore," said Jerry Linville, executive director of the Hawaii Marketing Alliance.
"We thought, let's give folks a reason to stop, one, and let's familiarize them with the town."
Trolley tours highlighting points of interest are being devised, for instance, and there will be food and crafters' booths. Entertainment will be provided by a host of local musicians and hula halau.
Area businesses Castle & Cooke, Dole and Del Monte are involved in both events.
Castle & Cooke is donating a two-night stay at one of its Lanai resorts as a prize for the Pineapple Run.
"Being 'The Pineapple Isle,' it made good sense," said Ron Nishihara, project manager for C&C. The company is also providing cash sponsorship.
Dole and Del Monte are contributing pineapples for the events, but the companies are also collaborating on displays that will show the historical significance of the fruit to the area's economy and culture.
Not just boring textbook stuff, though.
"There was a gentleman who had retired from Del Monte quite a few years ago," said Stacie Sasagawa, human resources manager for Del Monte. During a stop into the office he saw a picture on the wall and pointed his father and grandfather out to her. "He took me on a tour of my own office," she remarked.
The intention for the displays and exhibits is to give the old-timers reasons to reminisce and relate their oral history to children and grandchildren.
Pineapple is easy to take for granted. "We grow it, we pick it, we pack it, we send it to the store," Sasagawa said. "We want people to see how we got here, and all the people that have really spent a majority of their lives contributing to the success of the industry."
The 29-year-old Pineapple Run, beginning and ending at Kaala Elementary School, will precede the festival. It is a community fixture. Inexplicably, the festival is not, even though it seems any use of pineapple in cooking netted a dish the word "Hawaiian."
An association of pineapple growers used to host a festival at McCoy Pavilion years ago, "but it was never in Wahiawa and that's where it should be. That's where pineapple started growing," said Libby Smithe, long-time board member of the Wahiawa Community & Business Association.
Many of the members are participating or will, but there's been no board decision on whether to take on the event and make it annual, Smithe said. The Hawaii Marketing Alliance hopes to expose the town's businesses to a wider segment of the population, in light of the massive military deployments from area bases.
Tom's Golf Shop owner Tom Hrdlicka has decades of perspective from both sides of his life. He was in the Army for 30 years and has owned and operated the shop in Wahiawa since his retirement in 1981.
The downturn in business has not been dramatic, though he has temporarily lost some customers to deployment, he said.
"Some of my frequent customers left their clubs here to store them for 'em," Hrdlicka said.
He has sent gifts of golfers' care packages to Iraq and Afghanistan containing pop-up nets, clubs, driving mats, putting devices and hundreds of golf balls.
The festival will bring a welcome boost, Hrdlicka said.
"Anytime you have those kinds of things, you're thinking about relationship with the community."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
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