A parade of help: Residents rally to save 30th annual Hilo Christmas event

HILO — A nearly 30-year Hilo holiday tradition is in danger of coming to an end.

Funding and manpower woes led the Lehua Jaycees to cancel this year what would have been the 30th annual Hilo Christmas Light Parade. But, in what may turn out to be a holiday miracle, a group of interested community members is working to save the beloved event.

Last week, Lani Shigehara Walters learned of the parade’s cancellation from a Jaycees member. As co-director of Tropical Island Beauty Pageants, she helps to organize her girls’ participation in the event each year, but hadn’t heard any details about this year’s parade.

“It has been the organization that has put together the downtown Hilo parade for the past 30 years,” she said. “But when I got hold of one of the coordinators on Tuesday, they mentioned they were not having the holiday parade this year. They said the club had to close their doors because membership had gone below 20 people. And they had funding problems.”

Each year, the parade costs about $6,000 to pull off, mostly to pay for special duty officers to direct traffic, and requires about six months of careful planning, she said. With the Lehua Jaycees disbanding because of its membership trouble, the parade unfortunately fell by the wayside.

Despite the challenges, however, Walters said after talking with other community members, she decided she wanted to do something to make sure the parade happened.

Time, however, was not exactly on her side. Historically, the parade has always been held the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, leaving her only a couple weeks to organize the event. So, she turned to the Internet, writing a long Facebook post of her memories growing up in Hilo.

“Reason for this long post is as a child I looked forward to the Hilo Christmas light Parade with all the floats and vehicles decked with lights with their Christmas music, sounds of bells and laughter, christmas songs from all the school bands, the smiles of joy you see on all the kids and of course the finale Fire Engine with Santa and the candy!” she wrote on her page. “So to sadly and regretfully find out from one of the coordinators that due to multiple reasons, funding, and possibly volunteering that after all these years we won’t be having a Hilo Christmas Parade … That’s such a bummer! … But I can’t help but wonder what the power of social media can do and if we as a Community can come together and at least try to save it for our kids of Hilo.”

The post caught on, generating plenty of phone calls and text messages on Wednesday morning, she said.

Among those who responded to her post was a former organizer of the parade.

“This was one of my favorite projects to chair and be a part of when I was with the Lehua Jaycees,” wrote Kirk Mikami in a Facebook comment. “Count me in any way you need.”

She’s gotten offers of support from various area businesses, including KTA Super Stores, Shigehara Plumbing, InBigIsland.com, KWXX FM, Aiona Car Sales, Wolf Contracting, and more.

Former Lehua Jaycees members have provided her with their experience, records and contacts, and government agencies have been willing to work quickly to help get the parade off the ground, she said. Currently, the group is awaiting Department of Land and Natural Resources approval of a permit to use the land surrounding the Kamehameha statue as a staging ground, and they’re also waiting for approval of insurance.

“We’re working to get this going. To see something like that not happening for our kids … it’s kinda sad,” Walters said.

The group is looking for help from community members, both those who want to participate in the parade, and those who’d like to volunteer their time behind the scenes to make sure it comes to fruition.

For more information, contact Walters at hilochristmasparade@gmail.com or 960-0039. Or contact Tony Misiaszek at 333- 6936.

The parade is scheduled for Nov. 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.