The storm which battered Hawaiʻi last weekend caused closures across the state and lead to the cancellation of some popular events, like the Honolulu Festival’s Grand Parade and Nagaoka Fireworks Show, but there were still moments of cultural exchange.
Ted Kubo, president of the nonprofit Honolulu Festival Foundation and president and CEO of the travel services company, JTB Hawaiʻi, Inc., reflected on the festival with Aloha State Daily.
The Honolulu Festival events had been set to run Friday, March 13, through Sunday, March 15. Public schools, libraries, courthouses and state offices were closed on Friday, March 13, due to the weather. Power outages eventually left more than 217,000 people in the dark across the state.
On Saturday, March 14, several hundred people were lined up at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in the morning to participate in the Honolulu Festival activities that had not been canceled.
“That almost made me cry,” Kubo told ASD.
Another of his favorite moments was the mini parade held for performers at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on Sunday, March 15, after the popular Grand Parade was canceled. It was not open to the public due to space limitations, but allowed participants a chance to perform and be an audience for each other, he said.
“We asked all of the performers for the parade to come and join, but it was up to them because that day was still bad weather,” Kubo said.
Each year, the total attendance over the three-day period is anticipated to be about 150,000 people, according to event organizers. Of that number, approximately 2,500 attendees are performers and groups that fly in from Japan for the events.
The official count for this year isn’t in yet, but it didn’t look like as many as last year, he added.
“We don't know how many, but I am so glad people still came,” Kubo said.
Originally, events were planned for the Hawaiʻi Convention Center, Ala Moana Center’s Centerstage, Waikīkī Beach Walk and International Market Place.
Performances at Waikīkī Beach Walk were canceled Saturday and Sunday due to the weather. Ones slated for International Market Place were canceled Saturday, but festival organizers were able to bring these performances inside on Sunday.
Performance groups participated in a mini parade at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on Sunday, March 15. The event was not open to the public and the audience included other performers. (Honolulu Festival Foundation) 
This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Honolulu Festival. (Honolulu Festival Foundation) 
The Honolulu Festival Foundation announced Baldwin High School as the winner of the Maui Mikoshi design contest. The winning design was announced on Saturday, March 14, at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. (Honolulu Festival Foundation) 
This performance group from the Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan, usually brings a fire-spitting dragon called Daijayama to the festival. The group gave a simpler performance indoors at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center as part of the mini parade, which was open to other performers, but not the public, on Sunday, March 15. (Honolulu Festival Foundation) 
Ala Moana Center's Centerstage had a number of people watching performances, despite the rain. (Honolulu Festival Foundation) 
Performances at International Market Place were canceled Saturday, March 14, but festival organizers were able to bring these performances inside on Sunday, March 15. (Honolulu Festival Foundation)
The Hawaiʻi Convention Center opened to visitors and offered performances and activities, including its sushi-making workshop and Japanese Film Festival.
At Ala Moana Center, there were performances at the Centerstage. On Saturday, March 14, the audience was “maybe even more than the usual weekend at the Centerstage” because people often head to the center to spend the day there when it rains, he said.
The fireworks show required advance preparation on barges so festival organizers had to cancel the event, due to inclement weather, Kubo said.
The Grand Parade, which is popular with tourists and kamaʻāina, had been set for Sunday, March 15, and was also canceled, due to the weather. Saturated ground led to a large tree falling on Kalākaua Avenue on Friday, Kubo added. Hawaiʻi does not usually experience this level of prolonged non-stop rain and festival organizers worried the continuing rain would increase the risk of more possible fallen trees, he added.
That parade was expected to have 1,500 marchers and 10 floats, as well as three bands, according to permits filed with the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services.
“Same as the fireworks, if there was a way for us to still do it, then we wanted to have both fireworks and parade still operable on Sunday,” he said.
While performances at outdoor spaces were canceled, festival organizers offered each group a chance to perform at least once somewhere inside, he added.
“It was sort of chaos at the beginning, but everybody was organized to at least have one performance,” Kubo said.
The Honolulu Rainbow Ekiden, a long-distance relay race where teams run a total of five laps of a 5km course between Kapiʻolani Regional Park and an ocean lookout just past Diamond Head Lighthouse, was postponed, according to the festival website. A new date has not yet been set, he said.
“The organizing committee carefully monitored the situation and considered all possible options until the last moment,” shared a statement on the race’s website. “However, after thorough discussion and with the safety of our participants, volunteers, and staff as our top priority, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the Honolulu Rainbow Ekiden to another date.”
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
