LIHUE — Saturday was a blast from the past for those who stopped by the Grove Farm Museum, where nostalgic events such as potato sack races, hokey pokey dances and homemade ring toss games took over the site’s sprawling courtyard.
LIHUE — Saturday was a blast from the past for those who stopped by the Grove Farm Museum, where nostalgic events such as potato sack races, hokey pokey dances and homemade ring toss games took over the site’s sprawling courtyard.
Grove Farm Secretary Julie McLeod said this year’s inaugural Grove Farm Old Time Games event came together after the organization’s annual fundraiser, The Kauai Plein Air Invitational, was canceled earlier this year.
The concept of the event, she said, harks back to the traditional carnivals held in the late- to early-1800s, where events like pie eating contests, hoop and stick races, coconut shy, and small food booths selling homemade candies and snacks were the mainstays of community gatherings.
Having the event on the Grove Farm Museum’s property, McLeod said, also adds the to the feel of being transported back to the island’s plantation days during the early- to mid-1900s.
“Kids today can still have fun with just the old time, non-electronic games and realize that even something like pushing a hoop with a stick is actually kind of hard and physically demanding — it’s more complicated than they think it is,” McLeod said.
State Rep. Derek Kawakami, who attended the event, commended the efforts of museum volunteers to help keep the legacy of Kauai’s plantation days alive through an event that teach younger generations about past traditions.
“For us on Kauai, our plantation heritage, culture and the games they played at that time is very important for our kids to see,” Kawakami said.
“It’s great, because on Kauai, we need more community events like this for the kids.”
All of the money raised from the event will benefit The Waioli Corporation, a Lihue-based nonprofit charged with preservation, conservation and education efforts for the Grove Farm, Waioli Mission House and Mahamoku Museums on Kauai.
