LIHU‘E — The sight of four men wielding chainsaws to huge blocks of ice drew a growing crowd Friday morning at the Kukui Grove Center. Wallace Nishimura, a Kaua‘i chef, was scheduled to join the four in the 4th Annual
LIHU‘E — The sight of four men wielding chainsaws to huge blocks of ice drew a growing crowd Friday morning at the Kukui Grove Center.
Wallace Nishimura, a Kaua‘i chef, was scheduled to join the four in the 4th Annual International Holiday Ice Sculpting Expo later in the day.
“He approached us,” said Donna Yanos of Gilbert and Associates of Maui who coordinated the expo with Jonel Kaohelauli‘i, the Kukui Grove marketing director. “The group includes two sculptors from Maui and two from Japan who won the trips to Hawai‘i by winning at the Sapporo Ice Festival.”
Yanos said Osamu Yasuda and Yuta Takahashi, the two winners from Japan, coordinated their trip to Hawai‘i with the help of Kazuo Yamanoue, a sculptor who lives on Maui.
“He’s been very good,” Yanos said. “He kind of ‘adopts’ these visitors and takes care of them while they’re here.”
While in Hawai‘i, Yanos said the Japanese sculptors will start with the expo at the Kukui Grove Center, Friday before leaving for Maui where they will be participating in another expo before the ice sculpting competition, Sunday afternoon.
While on Kaua‘i, the four visiting sculptors spent their day at the mall, creating art from 300-pound blocks of ice, first during a morning exhibition where they wielded chainsaws and chisels to create a marine exhibit of swordfish and salmons, followed by the afternoon expo where Nishimura joined them.
The ice expo served to launch the mall’s slate of holiday festivities which included special sales by both Macy’s and Sears.
Visit www.kukuigrovecenter.com for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
