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LRF planning new event: Celebrate Historic Lahaina

By Staff | Jun 27, 2013

LAHAINA – A planning meeting for an event called Celebrate Historic Lahaina is set for Monday, July 1, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Na ‘Aikane o Maui Cultural Center.

The public is encouraged to attend. Dinner will be served after the meeting.

Celebrate Historic Lahaina will be held in the Lahaina Harbor Front area on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This free community event will feature demonstrations of Hawaiian cultural arts, a Hawaiian traditional food tasting booth, traditional fishing demonstrations, Hawaiian games and more.

Additionally, there will be a surf contest, keiki fishing contest, hands-on art-in-action projects and sailboat rides.

The double-hulled voyaging canoe Mo’olele will be moored near the event. Plans also include building and planting a taro patch as well as demonstrations of poi pounding. The event will focus on suggestions brought forth during the recent IMAGINE public planning process.

“Celebrate Historic Lahaina will be an event that will actualize many of the goals for the harbor front area that were developed during the recent IMAGINE community planning process,” said Theo Morrison, Lahaina Restoration Foundation executive director.

“A key goal of that planning process was to emphasize the significant historical and cultural sites in the area. Usually these ideas would just be incorporated into a written report. At Celebrate Historic Lahaina, however, we are going to bring these ideas to life. For example, we will be planting taro on the site of the King’s Taro Patch, which was on what is now the mauka library lawn. During the event, the public will be pounding poi and learning about the significance of taro to the Hawaiian culture,” she continued.

“Another focus of the IMAGINE process was to bring the community back to the harbor front area. To accomplish this, there will be a surf meet, fishing contest, art in action projects, historical walking tours, Hawaiian games and hands-on cultural activities. The junior sailing team will be practicing in the ocean fronting the makai library lawn, and the double-hulled canoe Mo’olele will be moored in the area.

“The purpose of Celebrate Historic Lahaina is to show the community what a fabulous area the harbor front area can be, and to involve them in jump-starting and implementing many of the goals of the IMAGINE project,” Morrison concluded.

The public is encouraged to participate in the event planning process by attending the meeting on July 1. Celebrate Historic Lahaina is coordinated by Lahaina Restoration Foundation with support from County of Maui Small Town grants.

Na ‘Aikane o Maui Cultural Center is located at 562-A Mokuhinia Place next to the Front Street tennis courts in the former Malu-ulu-o-lele Cultural Center building.

For more information, call LRF at 661-3262.