PO‘IPU – If there was not enough excitement going on around the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course, Sunday, add 158 ladies who descended on the Po‘ipu Bay Grill and Bar decked out in red hats and purple dresses, and the fun
PO‘IPU – If there was not enough excitement going on around the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course, Sunday, add 158 ladies who descended on the Po‘ipu Bay Grill and Bar decked out in red hats and purple dresses, and the fun begins.
The annual luncheon was sparked by Irene Kennett and a group of fun-loving ladies who drew the event from its roots in England.
Starting small, several years ago, the group would meet at the Sheraton Kaua‘i, and this year, Kennett said they wanted to try something different, settling on the Po‘ipu Bay Grill and Bar, working with the Hyatt catering department for the menu of the buffet.
“When we booked the event, the PGA was scheduled for December, so we were OK,” Kennett explained.
But, a change in the date of the Grand Slam of Golf put the ladies smack-dab in the middle of a lot of late-hour construction and adjustments as the Po‘ipu facility readied for the opening, Monday morning.
That combination of rushing workers, officials, and volunteers melded well with the congregation of ladies garbed in their red hats and purple dresses that stood out in contrast to the green of the PGA Rolex timepiece that anchored the open atrium of the golf course clubhouse.
The Red Hat luncheon serves as one of the fund-raisers for the Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital Foundation, and as such was also a venue where diners could purchase one of the Calendar Girls 2005 calendar, another fundraiser for the foundation.
Sharron Weber of Tire Warehouse took advantage of the event to have her cameras working, and Carol Ann Davis, was also working with her cameras while finishing up her fruity hat creation just in time to make the buffet line.
Davis said that one of her guests, Muriel Ganzer, had a lot of interesting stories to tell since her husband Alvin was a director for all the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road films.
Barbara Bulatao Franklin, recently retired from the Kaua‘i Community College, took advantage of the luncheon to bring out a purple gown that she said was designed by her mother. “This one is really old,” she said while waiting patiently as brother Jose Bulatao, also garbed in a fashionable purple shirt, attached the train to the purple gown.
Accompanying Bulatao to the event was her granddaughter Annie Franklin, 7, who donned a light lavendar dress topped with a scarlet headpiece, Kennett noting that Annie was the youngest diner in attendance.
In addition to the full buffet and almost equally full dessert table offering, diners were given the opportunity to bid on numerous items in the Silent Auction table.
As diners entered the dining room with their plates filled, the excitement was replaced with the electricity of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.
Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) and dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
