The North Shore economy is projected to ride high during its winter wave season, which kicked off Sunday with the 2024 Eddie Aikau Invitational Big Wave Contest at Waimea — a massive event that Honolulu police estimated drew about 50,000 attendees.

Tourists and local spectators lined every available vantage spot to see the North Shore’s Landon McNamara, 28, win first place in the event, where participants battled waves that reached up to 25 feet, with 50-foot faces. McNamara, a professional big-wave surfer who comes from a surfing family, also is a Ford model and a musician who just released an album.

Part of the reason for economic boost of “The Eddie,” which mostly comes before or after the event due to the singular focus of bystanders on the bay during the contest, is that it isn’t held often. The lead-up to whether “The Eddie” will go also generates incredible buzz and worldwide news coverage.

The one-day surfing event, named for late North Shore lifeguard and indomitable big-wave surfer Eddie Aikau, goes back to 1984 but has had only 11 runs. The last “Eddie” was held Jan. 22, 2023, when North Shore lifeguard Luke Shepardson took the title, and before that the event was held Feb. 25, 2016.

“The Eddie” runs only when wave heights at the bay are expected to consistently average at least 20 feet, with 40-foot faces — the size of a four-story building. Organizers made the official call Sunday morning that “The Eddie” would run. HPD noted that as early as 4:40 a.m. Sunday, there were already 10,000 attendees, and warned that Waimea Bay and the area around it were facing significant traffic congestion. By 5:35 a.m. the front and back paid parking lots at Waimea Valley had filled, although visitors to the Waimea Valley attraction itself were down significantly.

Waimea Valley Executive Director Richard Pezzulo said in an email, “We only had 132 visitors today. Our daily average is 1,400 this time of year. Most of our parking goes to ‘Eddie’ watchers. We certainly lost money today, but we feel it is important to support ‘The Eddie’ and the Aikau family.”

Traffic was exacerbated by a motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian, which caused HPD to temporarily close Kamehameha Highway and Pupukea Road. By 6:50 a.m. pedestrian traffic was so heavy that HPD instituted a temporary complete road closure on Kamehameha Highway between Pupukea Road and Iliohu Place, and asked people to avoid the area. It wasn’t until 3:15 p.m. that HPD said Kamehameha Highway was open for vehicle traffic.

Motor traffic did not stop the many spectators who came as pedestrians or biked to the bay, where a thick wall of watchers were gathered. Shayne Enright, spokesperson for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department and Honolulu Ocean Safety, said HESD resources included roughly a dozen HESD personnel, three ambulances, one rapid-response SUV and a command truck.

Enright added that six Honolulu Ocean Safety personnel were in the tower and supplemented in the water by members of the Hawaiian Water Patrol, which was hired by the event.

“More preparation went into this year’s event than in years past, and it showed,” Enright said, adding that as of 4:15 p.m. HESD had responded to 20 calls for serv­ice related to “The Eddie,” and most were minor injuries that befell bystanders.

Australian big-wave surfer Laura Enever seriously injured her leg at “The Eddie” on a skeg and was transported to a hospital. Mark Healey, a professional big-wave surfer from Oahu’s North Shore, suffered a ruptured eardrum.

Overall, the event was fun, spirits were high and the coverage was positive — with the December start sparking a longer run of media and creative content for the big-wave season.

Marilyn Koch, manger of Haleiwa Joe’s Seafood Grill in Haleiwa, said, “Business started picking up this morning, and we were extra busy for our lunch service. We did a ton of sales today. There are lots of people on the North Shore, and that will bring in lots of guests.”

Carol Philips, vice chair of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce and owner of North Shore Surf Girls, said some North Shore businesses saw less business during the contest Sunday but hoped to see a boost after the event.

“This pattern of it being slow during the actual days of a surf contest is typical. In between the days of the actual competition is when it benefits the businesses out here the most,” Philips said. “It’s people coming out here, for the first time perhaps, and falling in love with the North Shore and coming back to the island. Not only tourists, but locals, too.”

Wave contests draw athletes, their families and friends, and professional staff — who need lodging, food and other services — to Hawaii. Running the events also requires hiring locals to provide services ranging from construction to production, vendors, judges, officials, food and beverage, and more.

Tourists also come. During “The Eddie” the sounds of German, Portuguese and Japanese speakers at the bay mingled with domestic dialects — including Hawaii’s pidgin.

Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawai‘i Hotel Alliance, said that when he worked at Turtle Bay, it would fill up for “The Eddie.”

“Although ‘The Eddie’ is hard to time, people would come in and we would be very, very busy,” Gibson said. “The boost wasn’t just for ‘The Eddie’; it was before and after as well. I still remember the chatter that went on for weeks about whether it would be held. Emotions would be up or down based on whether it happened. When it did, it was an amazing event. It lit up the North Shore like a Super Bowl. ”

State Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake-Aliamanu), who pushed for the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority to create a Surf Advisory Group three years ago, said there is an obvious nexus between surfing and Hawaii’s economy, including tourism.

“‘The Eddie’ is one of those examples where the world is looking at Hawaii,” Wakai said. “When TV covers surfing and golf, every shot from Hawaii is a beauty shot. In all other sports, a station has to cut away to a scenic picture. The positive exposure is tremendous.”