Part I: The Parade
this saturday was the 95th annual King Kamehameha Day parade and festival in lahaina, and yours truly was in attendance. if you look up the word parade in the dictionary, you will find several definitions, one of which will go something like this: “a large public procession, usually including a marching band and often of a festive nature.” that’s what i think of when i imagine a parade. “rollicking” is the word that comes to mind. however, there will also be a definition that goes something like this: “a continual passing by, as of people, objects, or events.” this seems to be more of what hawai’i thinks of when it imagines a parade. having now seen one of theirs, the word that comes to mind is “stately.” the King Kamehameha Day parade was a slow, mostly noiseless affair, and its star attraction was the Pa’u princesses on horseback, whose quiet elegance i now present to you here:
these are just a few of them, of course. the Pa’u princesses are units of female equestrians who represent each of the major hawai’ian islands. not only do they have to be graceful and lovely, they also have to be gifted with the ability of riding in the beaming sun for miles swathed in yards and yards of heavy, non-breathable velvets and polyester satins without ever breaking a sweat. now that is elegance.
Part II: Lahaina
lahaina (luh-HIGH-nuh) is pretty far from where i’m staying, in kihei (KEE-hay). it’s the farthest i’ve ventured from “home.” it’s funny how malleable that word home is to me. sometimes it means richmond, va, where i’m from; sometimes it means philadelphia, where i’ve been living; and when i’m on an unfamiliar bus zipping way up the coast of maui on roads i’ve never seen, it means kihei.
upon entering lahaina territory, i realized how lucky i had been to find a home in kihei. lahaina is where all the people are, it seems. there were swarms of them on the beaches, in the water, and on its main drag, front street. just tourists galore. i don’t really consider myself a tourist here. i feel more like a temporary local.
any-hoo, i walked the length of front street, which went pretty much like this: t-shirt store, jewelry store, souvenir store, eatery, art gallery—repeat. i knew i was in the wrong kind of place when i saw bubba gump shrimp company, hard rock cafe, and ruth’s chris steakhouse. and every other eatery was serving the same kinds of food i could get at any chain restaurant on the mainland. why would i come all the way to hawai’i to eat hamburgers and chicken fingers?
the one thing lahaina had that was worth seeing was Banyan Tree Park, where the festival portion of the Kamehameha Day program took place. i’ve taken a photo, but i’ll explain why this doesn’t really capture it:
you see, what you’re seeing here is just the core trunk of the tree. see how it’s comprised of not just one solid mass all the way around but several smaller masses? and see how the branches spread off low to the ground? well, those branches eventually dip back down, create roots, and form yet another trunk. the entire tree has twelve trunks and stretches over two hundred feet. neat! so if you’re ever on maui, and you want to see one hell of an amazing tree and/or eat one hell of a generic meal, plan a visit to lahaina. you’ll be happy and/or sad that you did.
