KOLOA — Walking on hands with no shoes can be pretty hard, said Lexie Jones of The KQNG Radio Group, Saturday during the Koloa Plantation Days parade that unfolded before several thousand people lining the roads through Koloa town.
Jones was triggered into the unscripted antic by parade emcee Dickie Chang who got encouragement from fellow voice Julie Souza, and video cameras rolled to capture the moment from the parade that winds down 10 days of events paying tribute to the plantation era days.
One more event remains — the Family Fun Run/Walk presented by the Kukuiula Canoe Club, Sunday morning with registration starting at 6 a.m. at the Poipu Beach Park. Throughout the week, various sponsors and locations hosted events that carried a Year of the Paniolo theme starting last week with the three-day Koloa Plantation Days rodeo.
Paniolo hall of famer Eddie Taniguchi, Jr. filled the seat of the parade grand marshal aboard a metal steed provided through the courtesy of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
“His has more than four cylinders,” said one of his sons who accompanied the paniolo who will be celebrating his 80th birthday in August. “I prefer mine that has four legs, and you don’t need to fill gas — just feed ‘em grass.”
Mayor Derek Kawakami took the paniolo theme to heart, joining his steed with the Kauai All Girls Rodeo Association unit, and the Kauai Keiki and High School Association that finished by garnering top honors in the Mounted Units judging from judges positioned at three points along the parade route.
DMD Productions’ Pa‘u queen and her mounted escorts secured second place in the judging with the unit from the Sheraton Kauai Resort, partnering with Kipu Ranch, getting third place honors.
The Sheraton/Kipu partnership worked well as the combination earned top honors in the floats judging and came on strong in challenging the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa in the Decorated Vehicle judging.
But palaka fabric fared better and the Grand Hyatt secured the top spot in Decorated Vehicles followed by the Sheraton Kauai and Na Hoku O Kauai Pageant.
The Grand Hyatt continued to reap votes, getting top honors in the Walking Unit judging followed by the Kukui‘ula group and the Sheraton Kauai.
In the Floats judging, Kukui‘ula followed the Sheraton in second place with the CJM Country Stables tractor, cleverly holding its banner high on the front bucket, settling for third place.
The Grand Hyatt reaped the parade’s overall honor after taking top spots in both Walking Units and Decorated Vehicles.
Following the parade that spanned more than 60 units, including classic cars, mounted units, walking units, floats and decorated vehicles, and the unscripted handstands by Jones, the crowd surged through the gates of the Anne Knudsen Park for an afternoon of food, shopping, keiki activities, and entertainment led off by the Tsunami Taiko ensemble.
“This is really good to have an event where we can remember the good times,” said Eric Dusenberg who was chatting with Koloa Community Association’s Tessie Balmores while music from Cruz Control filled the midday air. “We really need to do something like this on the other side (of the Tree Tunnel).”
