Raynette was there wearing her beautiful pāpale ʻānoni. That pink ākulikuli lei in the picture was gorgeous and fluorescent in person.
There was music and hula, May Day history, and talking story.
Of special interest to me was a dried Hala seed lei submitted by lei maker Erin Lee. I had seen lei Hala made with fresh keys/seeds but not a dried one like this.
I won the silent auction bid for the lei Hala. Yay! Erin, the lei maker, put it on me and told me about it. The seeds are from Hala on the hotel grounds and it took her 5+ hours of shaving, drilling, and polishing the seeds to make the lei.
Later that week I attended the May Day festivities at Mauna Lani with my usual weaving hui. I realized that yes, I am part of a weaving hui! I digress... There was live music, hula, lei hulu, lauhala, and lei makers doing demonstrations. I was so busy working on my project and talking story that I didn't get many pictures.
Sue rocking her $2 garage sale pāpale. What an amazing deal! She made the ʻānoni hat band. Her Bete muʻu shortie had matching pantaloons. Festive classic style!!
The Mauna Lani employees contributed a variety of lovely lei for silent auction Charity Walk donations. Viewers could also vote for their favorites. There were wonderful smelling pīkake, pakalana, and puakenikeni leis. I was outbid. LOL
Cara in her pāpale and a pāʻū was not part of May Day festivities but a pāʻū workshop, held at the Kona Historical Society, in preparation for the upcoming King Kamehameha Day Parade. She was the "model" on which Kimo Keaulana showed how to wrap pāʻū using rope instead of kukui nuts. I learned so much! And now it's back to cleaning lauhala...