Chinatown Festival picks its 2011 queens

Lorrie Chong and Shannon Wong were recently crowned queens at the 2011 Chinatown Festival.

Chong, who will serve as Miss Hawaii Chinese Queen, graduated from Punahou School and Creighton University in Nebraska, where she earned a doctorate in pharmacy. She works as a pharmacist at the Medical Center Pharmacy in Aiea and said she hopes to establish a medical center that will incorporate principles of both Eastern and Western medicine.

Chong will represent Hawaii in the Miss Chinatown USA pageant Feb. 20 in San Francisco.

Wong is a graduate of Hawaii Baptist Academy and attends the University of Hawaii at Manoa, studying journalism and law. She also works as a city lifeguard. As the new Miss Chinatown Queen, she will participate in the 2011 Miss Hawaii Scholarship Pageant in June.

The Miss Chinatown Hawaii Pageant is a cultural and scholarship pageant that awards more than $35,000 in scholarship funds. Contestants receive training in Chinese history, culture and cooking. For more information, visit www.misschinatown.com.

Mission Houses offers genealogy workshop

Folks interested in tracing their family tree will learn basic research strategies at a Mission Houses Museum workshop offered Jan. 24, with a repeat Feb. 7.

Participants also will get an introduction to some of the basic genealogical resources available at the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library, Hawaiian Historical Society, the Hawaii State Library and the Hawaii State Archives, and a binder with information about 15 research sites on Oahu.

Instructors are history and genealogy researcher Nanette Napoleon and family genealogist Dianne Castro.

The workshops run 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the museum. Bring a bag lunch or order a box lunch from the Museum Cafe & Tea Room by calling 286-4699.

Fee is $65, $55 museum members. Space is limited; register by Jan. 17. Call Christopher Wong at 447-3916.

Get free dog-training tips at Humane Society

Can’t get Fido to fetch your slippers? Or do you just want your dog to stop yapping?

Get advice from the experts in free 10-minute individual training sessions offered by the Hawaiian Humane Society from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday.

The group’s animal behavior specialist, Julie DeNucci, also will be available to answer basic training and behavioral questions all month from the Humane Society Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HawaiianHumaneSociety.

The sessions are being offered in conjunction with National Train Your Dog Month, which aims to show people that training can be fun for both dogs and owners.

The Hawaiian Humane Society is located at 2700 Waialae Ave.