Three sisters — two from California and one from Arizona — were overcome with emotion at the King Auto Center-sponsored fireworks display on Tuesday night at Vidinha Stadium.
The trio broke out in acapella choral renderings of patriotic songs, overpowering the Kaua‘i Hospice-composed soundtrack that accompanied the pyrotechnic display that gives the annual Concert in the Sky event its name.
“Our last fireworks display was last Friday in Colorado Springs,” said a family from Colorado that arrived on Kaua‘i on Saturday. “There were others, but they were all canceled.”
Thousands of people flocked to the Vidinha Stadium soccer fields, where Kaua‘i Hospice put on the big show for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Emcee Ron Wiley, of the KQNG Radio Group, compared the numbers to nearly pre-COVID levels, with more people entering the fenced-off soccer fields as the hour drew closer to the fireworks ignition.
“This is Victoria Perreira’s first appearance after being crowned Miss Kaua‘i Filipina,” said Salisa Pegeder, the Miss Kaua‘i Filipina chaperone. “This is good practice for her to meet people before the state pageant that takes place on Maui on July 22.”
Perreira was not on the Corteva Agriscience and Gather Federal Credit Union-sponsored entertainment lineup. But she got to meet Wiley, who emceed the Kaua‘i Filipino Community Council’s annual scholarship pageant, and the U.S. Air Force Band of the Pacific that also performed in Princeville and on Thursday will be at the Kaua‘i Veterans Center in Lihu‘e at 5:30 p.m.
The Kaua‘i Protect Our Nation’s Youth Bronco All-Stars were fundraising for their mainland trip to the regional tournament by selling flying saucers to a line of customers that seemingly appeared to have no end.
“We’ll be at the Central Pacific Bank parking lot for two more weeks with flying saucers,” said Team Mom Ashley Yoshimori. “We start from 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday and stay until we run out. Our last weekend is July 15 and 16. That’s about 600 flying saucers on each day. Then we’re off to the regionals.”
The Concert in the Sky is a major fundraising event for Kaua‘i Hospice, and was presented by King Auto Center, Cosco Air Conditioning &Refrigeration, Alaska Airlines, inpac, Corteva Agriscience, Gather Federal Credit Union, the County of Kaua‘i, The Garden Island newspaper and a host of other sponsors.
Hundreds of volunteers also helped the event flow smoothly.
How was this event? Lots of people? And no fireworks display show? They did have one. Must be the coronavirus. They still have the coronavirus here on Kaua’i. I’m surprised. Most other parts of the state and globe they have done away with the coronavirus. They say that putting together a firework show only makes people forget what the coronavirus was or is. And I agree.