Persistent rain that blanketed the island on Monday could not deter the eight-day Waimea Town Celebration, which is presented by the Historic Waimea Theatre and many other sponsors, and will wrap up this weekend with a ho‘olaule‘a and other activities.
Confirmed by the event’s social media, Madison Coats of North Carolina should be the unchallenged winner of the Spam Musubi Eating Contest that was part of the Music in the Park series that started Tuesday and runs through Thursday.
A late discovery on the event’s website showed the location for the Tuesday and Wednesday events was moved to inside the Historic Waimea Theater due to concern about the weather.
Coats, who was dining with husband Matthew Coats at Hofgaard Park in Waimea on Tuesday, had the Spam musubi from Ishihara Market to wash down the container of poke, while Matthew made short work of his Porky’s dish. And, there was no music save the sound of the increasing wind that replaced the overnight rains.
The Music in the Park series is the first of the public, or no admission events that is part of the celebration of Waimea and its people. The series continues Wednesday with the Redondo Hot Dog Eating Contest, and Thursday with the Kaua‘i Kim Chee Eating Contests.
The rains did not deter the crews from Lee’s Rentals in Lihu‘e who worked through the day to erect tents for the no-admission ho‘olaule‘a that starts Friday afternoon and all day on Saturday at the Menehune Products Park in the shadow of the old Waimea Sugar Mill.
The ho‘olaule‘a will feature a slate of live music, food from community vendors and nonprofits, crafts from a roster of craft vendors, a beer garden, and ‘ukulele, lei and ice cream eating contests.
A long-distance canoe regatta and a Fun Run open the Saturday activities.
Among the vendors participating in the ho‘olaule‘a, the Friends of the Waimea Public Library will be distributing free books, as well as information on the Waimea Public Library that was closed through late January for renovation work to its meeting rooms that took nearly a year to complete.
Other events for the Waimea Town Celebration include “Tales and Treats” on Wednesday, the Ambassador of Aloha with Cherry Cherry returning to the celebration by honoring longtime resident Jimmy Okada at the Historic Waimea Theatre, and the three-day rodeo that starts on Thursday and runs through Saturday.
w Info: waimeatowncelebration.com
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
