LIHU‘E — The public has just one more night to enjoy the Festival of Lights, said Elizabeth Freeman, chairperson of the Festival of Lights Committee. The display will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. today, Christmas Eve, and then
LIHU‘E — The public has just one more night to enjoy the Festival of Lights, said Elizabeth Freeman, chairperson of the Festival of Lights Committee.
The display will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. today, Christmas Eve, and then it’ll be over for an unknown period of time, Freeman said.
Renovations scheduled for the Historic County Building almost prevented the lights from being displayed this year. However, that work was pushed back, enabling Freeman and her committee to install and erect the displays featuring a collection from the family of the late “Auntie” Josie Chansky of Kapa‘a.
“We don’t know how long the work is going to take, so I want as many people to view the lights before it gets taken down,” Freeman said.
She said the Festival of Lights normally runs through January, but due to the renovation work, will have to be dismantled this week.
“We don’t know how far along the renovation work will have progressed by (next) December, so unless we find another place to display, it won’t be here,” Freeman said.
She said the lawn and facade of the Historic County Building, however, will continue to be lit up because the renovation work will not affect those displays.
Chansky, a folk artist born and raised on Kaua‘i, created displays out of recycled products.
Egg cartons, plastic rings holding beverage containers, cans of Spam, and a host of other household items which would normally end up in the trash heap found their way into the displays which attracted hundreds of people to her home on Kawaihau Road.
When the Chanskys could no longer put up the displays, Freeman took over after discovering some of the pieces in a garage sale. Josie Chansky made the trip to Lihu‘e from her Kapahi home to personally greet guests and talk about the displays until she was no longer able.
“The AOHT students have taken up the recycling cause,” said Kathy Morishige, director of the Kaua‘i High School Academy of Hospitality and Travel. “The biggest thing happening this year was one visitor saying how the tree featuring H2O ornaments should be placed in Washington, D.C.”
AOHT students served as greeters through the three weeks the display has been available. On Wednesday, they were instructing guests at the Sheraton Kaua‘i on how to create ornaments out of discarded water bottles.
A Christmas tree featuring these recycled ornaments is located at the Festival of Lights display and in the lobby of the Sheraton Kaua‘i.
Freeman is hopeful the renovation work will move ahead of schedule.
“Anything is possible,” she said. “Maybe Auntie Josie Chansky will be smiling down on us and we’ll be back.”
