LIHUE — Teddy got hurt Saturday at the Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club. “He didn’t look both ways before trying to cross the street,” said Jazmen Callejo of Eleele at the Kids Summer Fest. “He got hit by someone
LIHUE — Teddy got hurt Saturday at the Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club.
“He didn’t look both ways before trying to cross the street,” said Jazmen Callejo of Eleele at the Kids Summer Fest. “He got hit by someone who was texting and not paying attention to driving so now, he needed to be fixed up.”
Callejo, gently cradling a stuffed bear wearing an arm and leg bandage from the Teddy Bear Clinic, was one of more than a thousand keiki who flowed through the doors of the Kauai Marriott Grand Ballroom during the Kids Summer Fest presented by the G.N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
“Any time you can have a thousand kids, and their families, it’s a success,” said Dr. Cedric Akau of Honolulu, one of the founders of the Kids Fest.
Jen Chahanovich, Wilcox Hospital CEO, was excited with the crowd as well, noting they had 30 bicycles with helmets to give away to lucky keiki at the fest that featured 23 stations being manned by hospital staff and other volunteers.
To be eligible for the bicycle giveaway, keiki had to have stamps from at least 12 of the 23 stations. Each completed card earned them a healthy snack as well as an event T-shirt.
Kacidee Gonsalves, 2, was busy playing with her soap bubbles premium, a box of crayons clutched in one hand while showing off her bottle of bubbles in front of the row of bicycles.
“This is all for the kids,” said Dustin Gonsalves, Kacidee’s dad. “This is the second year we’ve come to this and to have all of this information being presented in a way that appeals to kids is great.”
Akau said the purpose of Summer Kids Fest is to educate the public, not just kids, on healthy lifestyles.
“It’s about having fun and being healthy as a family,” he said.
Dr. Grace Galiza and Dr. Derek Johnson were the co-chairs.
Bridget Orsatelli was patiently waiting to see if she could have Johnson and his crew do physicals for her two sons for the Boy Scouts program, and Kiarah Strickland was able to pass the time with Jim Jung, fully garbed as a pirate for the Kauai Lifeguard Association.
She was waiting on the race to the lifeguard tower being handled by Dr. Monty Downs of the Wilcox Hospital Emergency Room, the prize being a Wilcox Hospital backpack.
“The best part of this is the smoothie,” said Callejo, a hula dancer with Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala.
