Picnic In The Park
On Sunday, September 18, 2022 the Hanalei Initiative (HI) celebrated its 4th anniversary by throwing “Picnic in the Park” at Waioli Town Park.
The History of Hanalei Initiative & Waioli Park
When HI was formed in 2018, one of its goals was to recognize the value of public places and the importance of these places to create and support our sense of community. We began this effort by adopting Waioli Town Park and began a maintenance schedule that included weekly mowing and helping with general upkeep.
In November 2020, we held our first fundraiser at Waioli Town Park on a cold rainy day to raise funds to replace the basketball backboards. Due to safety reasons, the county had already removed the old decrepit backboards so we replaced them with temporary portable baskets so afternoon pick-up games could continue while we worked with the county to install the permanent backboards.
The 30-40 participants were asked to donate $5 per shot and those who made a basket from different areas on the court won prizes donated by Hanalei merchants. The grand prize for a half court shot was a surfboard donated by Tamba Surf Shop, won by Hanalei’s own Luca Aza. Thanks to our community basketball players, we reached our goal of $8,500 to install the new backboards.
In 2021, we set a new goal to resurface the old asphalt court with a more durable concrete surface. We were fortunate to get a fundraising head start from two very generous donations from longtime residents and community members, Amy Frazier and Billy Eckert. That put us almost halfway to our goal of $100,000. We also received grants from the County of Kauai and the Waioli Foundation. With the new backboards in place we were able to raise the stakes in the half court shooting contest! Thanks to many generous donations and grants, the concrete surface project was completed in early 2022.
Fast Forward to 2022
This past year, we decided it was time to celebrate. We have an amazing team who are always budget conscious and who also understand that there is nothing more important than community support. Being that HI is “Community-Led, Government-Supported” we decided to invite the whole town to get a closer look at what The Hanalei Initiative is working on, and have a good time doing it.
To celebrate our 4th anniversary we hosted a “Picnic In The Park”. We wanted to bring as many people together to have as much fun as possible. The HI event committee organized exhibits, live music, kids’ slip and slide games, a pali climbing wall, a mobile skate park, laser tag, and all the burgers you can eat. But, the biggest hit by far was the HI first annual kickball tournament, complete with brackets and teams from all walks of life.
Koral and Moku Chandler of Ohana Shop Hanalei, were part of the winning team of the Kickball tournament.
When reflecting on the Picnic In The Park Koral shares, “The party was very entertaining for all ages and created community bonding from all of the classic memories…it was all time!”
I think we can all agree, the first annual Picnic In The Park was a huge success! We are so grateful to all who attended and the many community businesses who donated prizes. It was a real community event with everyone pitching in to organize the event. HI would like to give an especially big mahalo to all the volunteers who made it a success. We are already looking forward to next year’s Picnic In The Park! Until then - stay involved and take initiative.
