HONOLULU (KHON2) — For over seven decades, Hawaiian Airlines has been a long-time supporter of Aloha Festivals, shared Debbie Nakanelua-Richards, director of community and cultural relations at Hawaiian Airlines.
“We have been looking through our archives for photographs and the first one that we see is from 1949. Hawaiian Airlines was started in 1929 so we were already in our 20th year when we started to participate in Aloha Festivals,” Nakanelua-Richards said.
To keep with the 2025 festivals’ theme of mauka to makai, the Hawaiian Airlines team considered how to share the importance of land and what story could be told through their float.
“Our focus this year is to kind of tell the story of what is land and what does ʻāina mean to us,” Nakanelua-Richards said. “We know that land holds the story of people, of place and culture, so this year we’re focusing on the story of Maui and how he captured the sun to slow it down so his mom could dry her kapa.”
The story of the float follows Maui, embodying both ocean and land.
“We can see toward the front is where we focus on the ocean part, or the kai, and these are large representations of naupaka that is known to be grown near the coastal areas on the beach and then it makes its way up to Haleakalā where Maui is going to snare the sun,” Nakanelua-Richards said. “It also features a makau, Maui’s hook, and then towards the back it kind of shows Haleakalā and the mountain, kind of indicating again, from the mountain to the sea.”
“Our float is kind of this labor of love…”
Construction for the float began about a month ago, Nakanelua-Richards added.
“Our float is kind of this labor of love and it starts with construction, as you can see there’s a basic framework to it. It’s all done by hand and we have two major people, mechanics actually, that do the major pieces and they have a crew of four or five that starts the framework with chicken wire and fencing and all the soldering and welding, again, all done by hand,” Nakanelua-Richards said. “And that started about a month ago. Just that construction alone is about 200 hours of labor, so pretty extensive.”
During the three days before the parade on Sept. 27, up to 100 people could be involved in the process of building the float, she said.
“It’s probably going to be about between 80 to 100 people that will come over the course of three days. So this phase kind of starts once the paper mache is finished, it starts with all the dried objects that aren’t perishable,” Nakanelua-Richards said.
Fresh flowers, the most perishable of the items on the float, will be added on Sept. 26, the night before the parade.
“Common flowers, most is anthuriums, is proteas, carnations and those all came from our friends at Green Point Nursery in Hilo. We like to use local businesses as well, our friends at Watanabe Floral is also where we source some of our mums…roses from, as well,” Nakanelua-Richards said.
Roses act as a tribute on their float, honoring those who have participated in the past.
“For us, it kind of symbolizes the people who have since passed, that have worked on the float with us. We like to continue in their memory. A lot of the work that we do, they taught us how to do,” she said. “So we like to incorporate them in that kind of fashion.”
On the day of the parade. there will be Hawaiian music and hula featured on the float.
“It’s the oldest festival west of the Rockies, I mean that alone speaks to its legacy and its tradition,” Nakanelua-Richards said. “For us, our parents, our great-grandparents have also participated so we know we are a part of something larger than ourselves and that is really unique to Hawaii where there will be floral representations of the parade theme, there’ll be pāʻū riders, there’ll be bands, there’ll be, again, more family, more friends.”
“Just really a special part to come together as a community to really honor, again, the culture of Hawaii.”
To Nakanelua-Richards, the festivals are about more than an individual impact, but the many hands involved in the work and the community itself.
“Really privileged to be a part of this long-standing tradition, not just for Hawaiian Airlines but for our island home,” she said. “Just really a special part to come together as a community to really honor, again, the culture of Hawaii.”