WAIPOULI — With the Kaua‘i Sands Hotel shuttered against the COVID-19, Jennie Waiwaiole-Vega, the hotel’s general manager, thought having an event for Halloween was a good idea.
WAIPOULI — With the Kaua‘i Sands Hotel shuttered against the COVID-19, Jennie Waiwaiole-Vega, the hotel’s general manager, thought having an event for Halloween was a good idea.
“We’re reopening on Nov. 12,” Waiwaiole-Vega said. “Lava Lava, the restaurant inside the hotel, is still closed, and there are no ideas on when it will reopen. This get-together is the last hurrah before the employees come back and take care of our visitors.”
The Trunk or Treat event offered families a safe venue to bring the kids around for trick-or-treating, stopping at any of the dozen specially-decorated vehicles set up socially-distanced around the hotel’s turnaround.
Following the tour, families were invited beach-side for watching the moonrise of the only blue moon of this year before adjourning to the central table for a paina.
“Being closed wasn’t so bad,” Waiwaiole-Vega said. “We were able to get several projects done. The last big job was changing out the entry doors to the guest rooms. We still have to clear away the old doors, but that’ll be done by the time we open the doors.”
Previously, the Kaua‘i Shores Hotel had hosted several food distributions for its furloughed employees and their families in partnership with the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank.
“We have 50 employees,” Waiwaiole-Vega said. “There’re only five of us working right now. I’m happy we can do something for the employees while they wait for us to reopen.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
