March madness unfolded at Bank of Hawaii’s main branch downtown and at its Iwilei and Kapolei facilities during Thursday’s lunch hour, and it had nothing to do with basketball.

Rather, it was for employees to take a break from the madness, hustle and bustle of daily work life and bask in the bank’s appreciation for “all that you do every day of the year,” said Chairman, President and CEO Peter Ho, who wore a crazy hat for the occasion.

The first-of-its-kind event hosted more than 750 employees at the downtown location alone. Each was encouraged to enjoy lunchtime with co-workers and not simply take food back to their desks, said Stafford Kiguchi, executive vice president of corporate communications.

In Bankoh’s first-floor breezeway more than a dozen tables for 10 were set up, covered in Bankoh-blue tablecloths for employees who had retrieved their repast of choice from one of five Eat the Street vendors — Camille’s on Wheels, Cooking Fresh for You, Shogunai Tacos, Soul Patrol and Tiki Truck.

Iwilei employees chose between Momo Burger, Simply Ono and Why’z Wagon, while Kapolei employees got their pick of Alonzo’s or Local Stop.

The bank paid for all of it, handing out vouchers to employees who, at the main branch, also could avail themselves of free cookies in one tower, or popcorn or shave ice on the second-floor breezeway.

Locally sourced food baskets were delivered to other branches for those employees not at one of the three venues, Kiguchi said. “Because they’re important, too,” Ho noted.

The bank has renovated the once empty fifth-floor space of its main branch at 111 S. King St., partly for continuing employee appreciation efforts.

It has training rooms not just for keeping employees’ professional skills honed, but also a fully equipped gym, as well as a large room for yoga classes, among other things. Both are free to all employees, while twice-weekly boot camp-style fitness training is subsidized by the bank and costs employees just $5 a session, Ho said. The sixth-floor employee cafeteria is being renovated as well, he said.

Along with Ho, many other mad-hatters in the crowd were helping with the prize giveaways. Most of the top-hat-shaped chapeaus were themed according to the hobbies or passions of the execs sporting them.

Ho’s was festooned with the University of Southern California logo, barbecue utensils, a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips, arare and doodads.

Addressing the lunching staffers, Ho noted their various achievements, including hundreds of hours of volunteer service to the community, before he drew names of winners for VISA gift cards of $100 and $250, and the grand prize of neighbor island air fare, hotel, rental car and $500 spending money for a go-anywhere, stay-anywhere getaway for two.

Investing in employees and showing them appreciation “is good for the employees, good for the shareholders and good for the community,” Ho said.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.