Hawaii’s observance of Kamehameha Day falls on Monday, and for many, including Rowen Monroe and her 19 summer school students, that means a three-day weekend.
Monroe, who teaches expository writing to 10th-graders at Kaimuki High School, had her students write a biography on King Kamehameha as well as a position paper on his unification of the Hawaiian Islands. All that, she said, to remind them why there is no school.
For extra credit she invited her students Friday to Aliiolani Hale, where hundreds gathered to watch the lei-draping ceremony at the King Kamehameha statue fronting the building.
"Inviting them down here to experience this is like the icing on the cake," Monroe said.
Representatives from the state, city, Royal Order of Kamehameha and other Hawaiian royal societies offered hookupu, or gifts, to be placed at the foot of the statue.
Kakaako firefighters used a fire engine with a tiller ladder to assist them in draping the statue with more than 45 13-foot-long plumeria lei.
Each lei had between 450 to 500 plumeria blossoms and was hand-sewn by members of the Kaahumanu Society civic club Friday morning, said Jacqueline "Skylark" Rossetti, event emcee and Hawaii County representative of the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission.
The ceremony was the kickoff to Kamehameha Day celebrations that continue through June.
Today the King Kamehameha Celebration Floral Parade starts at 9 a.m., proceeding from Iolani Palace and heading down Ala Moana Boulevard via Punchbowl Street, ending at Kapiolani Park where a hoolaulea will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The 39th annual King Kamehameha Hula Competition, which takes place June 22-23, features local and international halau that compete in both kahiko (traditional) and auana (modern) categories.
Visiting Belmont, Wash., resident Robert Craver, 56, said he has been to Hawaii 11 times since age 14.
Yesterday was his first lei-draping ceremony.
Hawaii "is unlike any other state," Craver said.
"The rich history and culture is just out-of-this-world beautiful, and after seeing something like this," he said, pointing to the lei-draped statue, "I appreciate it all so much more."
Other celebrations will take place on the neighbor islands starting tomorrow.
Those on Hawaii island have three celebrations to choose from.
In Hilo a lei-draping ceremony at the King Kamehameha statue on Bayfront Drive will take place Sunday at 5 p.m. after the annual Kamehameha Day Ho‘olaule‘a at Coconut Island from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A lei-draping ceremony at the King Kamehameha statue on Akoni Pule Highway in North Kohala, the birthplace of King Kamehameha, is scheduled for Monday at 8 a.m. A parade beginning at 9 a.m. at the Hawi County base yard will be followed by a hoolaulea at Kamehameha Park in Kapaau.
On June 16 the King Kamehameha parade in Kailua-Kona begins at 9 a.m. on Alii Drive. The Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel will host a hoolaulea from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Maui and Kauai will also hold celebrations June 16.
The Na Kamehameha Commemorative Ho‘olaule‘a in Lahaina begins at 9 a.m. at Kamehameha Iki Park, with a parade, starting at Kenui Street, to follow at 9:45 a.m.
In Lihue a celebration parade begins at Vidinha Street at 9 a.m., followed by a hoolaulea on the grounds of the Kauai County Building from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, visit the Kamehameha Day Commission website at hawaii.gov/dags/kamehameha.
