PO‘IPU — Thousands of spectators crowded into Po‘ipu Beach Park to welcome 2012 with music and a late-night fireworks show Saturday Some witnessed an earlier display of flashing blue lights from Kaua‘i Police Department cars as officers wrote tickets to
PO‘IPU — Thousands of spectators crowded into Po‘ipu Beach Park to welcome 2012 with music and a late-night fireworks show Saturday
Some witnessed an earlier display of flashing blue lights from Kaua‘i Police Department cars as officers wrote tickets to drivers of numerous cars parks illegally on Ho‘owili Road on a night when legal parking spaces were rare.
“Someone already texted me they got a ticket,” said Janice Bond, a Lihu‘e resident who was concerned about parking with a handicap placard. “I asked the officer, but I didn’t get his badge number or name, so I’m hoping I’m okay.”
The Po‘ipu Beach Resort Association joined the County of Kaua‘i, Kalapaki Joe’s and other area businesses to host the annual New Year’s Eve celebration and music festival.
For a contest hosted by the Kaua‘i Kine Radio Show, guests picked their way among the sea of people in the darkened park to claim their prizes for correctly answering questions about the Po‘ipu area.
The prizes were distributed between the slate of scheduled musical performances.
The music began with performances by Alyson’s Anthem and the Papa‘a Bay Boys bidding farewell to the final sunset of 2011, which was obliterated by a bank of clouds during the orb’s final descent into the Pacific.
“It was going to be a good sunset until the clouds came in,” one spectator said as he worked his way through crowds looking for a good viewing spot in the park.
Food booths were manned by employees of local business establishments including Keoki’s Paradise, Pizzetta and Pacos Tacos.
Boys and Girls Club of Kaua‘i members did a steady shave ice business until the tropical heat disappeared with the sun.
“Are we going to take a hot bath when we get home?” asked a young child playing a video game in the dark. “It’s cold.”
