WAIMEA — Whose wedding is it? That was the question the staff at the Waimea Plantation Cottages had to answer from people calling to inquire about the resort’s grounds decorations. The Waimea Plantation Cottages is only one of more than
WAIMEA — Whose wedding is it?
That was the question the staff at the Waimea Plantation Cottages had to answer from people calling to inquire about the resort’s grounds decorations.
The Waimea Plantation Cottages is only one of more than a dozen community businesses that joined the Waimea High School ‘ohana in celebrating its homecoming festivities last night.
“We kind of felt obligated to do this,” said Kulia Kilar of Da Booze Shop. “We’re alumni of the school and we have some students from the high school who work here, and a lot of the students just ‘hang out’ here.”
Kilar said while the students waited for orders, she had them helping paint some of the cutouts that adorned the local eatery.
Jodi Dela Cruz, the owner of Da Booze Shop said Kilar was the sparkplug behind the decorations that include a proliferation of blue and white themed with “and the beat goes on,” the school’s homecoming theme.
“She did all the work,” Dela Cruz said. “I just bought the stuff and provided the place.”
Similarly, over at M & H Service, one of its employees said, “I went home one day, everything was normal. I come back the next day, and everything is blue and white.”
Malcolm Oyamot, the owner of the service station, said this was the first year the Waimea students came over and asked businesses to decorate.
“It worked out well because Helena (the “H” in M& H Service) usually works to decorate to some theme each month. This time it was supposed to be Halloween, but we’re going to Vegas so we won’t even be here, so this homecoming theme worked out well,” Oyamot said, pointing out that the two poles jutting out of his roof form part of the “W” for Waimea High School. “Helena does all the events, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s, Christmas.”
The community businesses vied for prizes in several categories laid out by the students. These included Best Use of School Colors, Most Creative, Most Resourceful/Recyclable, Most Eye-Catching and Best Use of Theme (“And the beat goes on.”)
One of the community businesses decorated was the Waimea Post Office where postmaster Donnell Ruiz said normally the post office guidelines don’t have its buildings decorated, but because the community came to ask for support, they were able to participate.
She said the only thing they couldn’t get involved in was the distribution of homecoming activities fliers.
Meanwhile at Hanapepe Stadium, the site for Waimea’s homecoming football game, Shane Fernandez, a former Menehune player, was at the center of a group of about a dozen people working to paint the “W” at the 50-yard line.
“This all started in 1997 when Waimea tried to start a tradition,” said Dominic Agu, a 16-year coach with the Waimea program and the stadium’s lead caretaker.
“Now, every year Shane, the Al Bundy of Waimea, sends his crew which keeps getting bigger each year.”
For this year, the volunteers expanded beyond the “W,” adding white paint along the players’ box and the end zones.
Agu said the county provides the white paint which is used to line the stadium, and the blue paint is provided the school.
“If the Class of ‘79 kicks in, we were going to have the Menehune mascot,” Agu said. “This is good because everybody like help make this place special, and everybody puts in their share.”
Fernandez said the fever grew from 2001, the year of the 9-11 disaster.
“Homecoming has always been special,” Agu said. “Alumni come home from all over the nation to watch the game and meet up with former classmates.”
Part of the pre-game festivities included the invitation to former Menehune cheerleaders to join the current squad in leading the Alma Mater prior to kickoff.
“It’s all a matter of coordination,” Agu said.
