A Small town with a Big Heart and Loads of ALOHA!...Plantation Day Celebration in Naalehu, Hawaii ..

It was such a beautiful sunny day with nice cool trade winds blowing, so I decided to drive down the mountain from Discovery Harbor to town and check out the Annual Plantation Day Celebration and Rodeo. I have been here on The big Island for over 6 years and had never been to this event. I would normally be in town with my jam booth set up across the street in front of the Ace hardware so the locals knew where to find me. Besides, I don't do well in big crowds . I was really looking forward to the luxury of attending and playing tourist. All the locals know me, so I knew most of the day would be spent visiting with friends.

I was especially looking forward to watching the Rodeo. This was one of my most favorite things to do as a kid. Daddy would load all us kids in the back of the pickup truck and off we would go. I would be so excited, a few times I almost peed my pants when he would drive up and park in the dirt parking lot. I would jump out of the truck and run towards the horse stalls and pet the horses. If I was lucky, I could talk one of the cowboys into letting me get on their horse for a few minutes. Ahh, sweet childhood memories!

(Google Photo) ..The rest are original content taken today by little ole me.

When I arrived at the Community Center where a lot of local functions are held, I was shocked to see that there were no horses and very few people. I headed first to the basketball court where several vendors were set up. Everyone there was happy, smiling and socializing. Several vendors and a few of my customers were disappointed when I told them I wasn't setting up my booth and that i was playing tourist today. I asked one of the vendors what time the rodeo was suppose to start. I was floored when she told me they had to cancel the rodeo due to lack of funds. She said the organizers decided to "wing it" go ahead with the Celebration anyway. So, I decided to just go with the flow and enjoy the ALOHA. That is how locals are..they don't need big crowds to have a great time. As a matter of fact, they seem to have more fun kicking it with the ohana.

Next I walked across the parking lot to the area in front of the Center building where the musicians were setting up. There were two groups of people sitting in chairs waiting for the entertainment to start. On one side of the bandstand was the Hula Group and on the other was mostly locals.

I had about 15 minutes to kill, so I walked into the building to browse the old photos, books, documents, etc documenting the history of Naalehu. Sitting at a table was 3 of the local Naalehu Police Officers taking photos of the kids. They were making photo ID's for the Keiki.

Chatted with them for a bit, then back to the vendor booths to get my Hawaiian shaved ice and spring rolls, chat a bit more, then back to the bandstand to take more photos. I got a few smiles and a few stares when I sat budda style on the concrete in front of the carpet where I figured the hula ladies would be dancing, cell phone in hand ready to start filming.

Just keep in mind, I am by no means a professional at photography or video. I just point the camera and hit the button. LOL I do this probably more for my on benefit than I do for others. I like preserving beauty and precious memories.

So here it is, a few videos for you to enjoy and share!!

Local Seniors Hula Dancing

Local Band Performs

Aloha and Mahalo from The Big Island to you.