Friday, April 16, 2010

A Rainy Day Celebration



It was a rainy day in Hilo with high winds, intense downpours, sunny skies and then a remix of everything.

In spite of all these changes, we still cherish the rain and put on a good parade and the rest of us stayed covered in our pop-ups.



Parades in Hawaii are all about color, color and color oh yes did I also mention the aloha attire is mandatory gear?




All the antique cars display amazing tropical flowers from our local nuseries and add exotic color!








This is our local marching band with their aloha gear, putting up a good show in spite of the rain.





Pau riders in all their splendid leis and elaborate ornamentation always steal the show and the smiles are genuinely shared.















Even the horsey dung carts are sweetly decorated and have happy smiles!



Now you know this is a real Hawaiian parade when they include a marching band just with ukule players, giving the shaka (local hand aloha gestures)




Boy the ladies in red hats know what color to wear today and how to make everyone cheer for these volunteers!






Miss Kau coffee is putting out some sweet smiles, Kau coffee is becoming as popular as Kona coffee in the coffee world.






Oh okay, a few more pau riders, yes they are my favorite and really show us aloha, Each rider wears colors and flowers specifically to their islands and their leis are handmade with local foliage and flowers.









Canoe clubs are celebrated here and wood canoes are the traditional way of racing. They are prized and also used for parades...these types of canoes are very rare to produce nowadays.







Even little dogs like to show off their aloha and wear their leis for a big parade.






Aloha and thanks for watching our celebration of the Merrie Monarch Parade highlights, I hope you enjoyed your visit to hilo town.



To view more posts on the photo hunt challenge for covered go to http://tnchick.com/



To view more aloha friday posts go to http://islandlife808.com/memes/aloha-friday-129/



To view other photo friday challenges go to http://photofriday.com/

23 comments:

  1. Aloha, Noel! What a joyous event, and I have to agree, the pau riders are the highlight! :-)
    Frances

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  2. Lovely Shots Noel.

    Thanks for visiting my blog earlier and for your nice comments. I am glad you liked my work. Have a happy weekend.

    Life through a pinhole

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  3. That's a very colourful and exciting event. Flowers are used extensively in the decorations here. Do they also use hibiscus flowers?

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  4. Aloha Noel, wonderful photos of the parade. So colorful, love all the different leis, and the pau riders. Have a happy weekend!

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  5. Usually it always rains in Belgium when there are parades, lol, but this time you had it too ! Your pictures are wonderful, I wished I could have seen this life !

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  6. Your parades look like a lot of fun. I love the vivid colours

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  7. What a fun parade! I'd love to go to one of those. You definitely have this theme COVERED.

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  8. superb takes on the theme!!!!
    love them all!!

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  9. What a wonderful parade. You got some fantastic shots and great there were places to stay under cover from the rain.

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  10. I love this, so much beauty. And I love the canoe at the end.

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  11. Bonjour Noel,

    I love warming my day with a visit to your colourful photos. thanks.

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  12. that looks like a fun parade. very colorful and appealing too.

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  13. What a fantastic parade!! lovely shots, and a very creative take on the theme!

    Enjoy your weekend.
    covered!

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  14. what fabulous colors and costumes! i love the garlands around the horses' necks, and a dog, adorable! thanks for sharing these happy occasion.

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  15. Loving the aloha cheer and colors, especially in this 50° weather here! I haven't watched a Merry Monarch parade in ages...love the shaka sign and the little dog all dressed up like that!

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  16. Love these photos!! SO glad I've found your blog!! Adding you to my blogroll!
    hughugs

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  17. The colors, costumes, and flowers are gorgeous!

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  18. Great to see the passing parade, thank you.

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  19. This is beautiful and interesting parade full of smiling faces; so colorful and with so many beautiful flower decorations... I enjoyed this post and thanks for sharing.
    Thanks for visiting my blog and for your nice comment.

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  20. Sigh! This brings back fond memories of Hawaii. Very colorful. Too bad it rained. There is no place like Hawaii and the feeling of being there.

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  21. Your parade photos are gorgeous! I've never seen a parade with so many fresh flower arrangements! WOW :)

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  22. Hawaii..one of the places I wish to visit..thanks for sharing these lovely images..lovely blog..me and my blogs are following you now!
    Euro Travel
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    Euroangel Graffiti

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