The first of May is always the May Day Festival, regardless if it is on a Monday or a Saturday. I went a couple of years ago and realized that there was a whole May Day program that I had missed. So this year, I took the day off from work so I can enjoy the entire festivities. When I got to Kapiolani Park, there was such a large crowd that I soon forgot it was Thursday and not Saturday. Even the Queen Kapiolani statue was covered in lei strung with jade flower, said to be her favorite flower.
This year, I went 'light' and used just my 100mm lens.
When I found a spot to sit, the hula performance had already started.
When Mayor Caldwell was making his speech, the monthly noon time test siren had gone on and Kimo Kahoano did an impromptu emergency announcement that made everyone laugh.
The 2014 May Day Queen performed a hula about lei giving.
Under a tent, there were lei making demos. I spent most of my time taking pics of all the flowers.
One of the lei maker even got interviewed by a TV crew.
They offered leis to the cutest visitors to the booth..
I became fascinated by the colors of the flowers that were randomly strewn on the tables.
There was a tapa demo. I have to admit that the smell of the wet bark that was used to make the tapa smelled worse that the corpse flower.
I waited in line for about 20 mins so I could see all the lei entries and winners on display.
There were all kinds of leis of every color of the rainbow, from strung leis to haku leis.
I believe this was the Mayor's winner.
There were also ribbon leis that were made to look like real flowers.
It was a hot and sunny day but I was glad I spent a day off to enjoy this May Day. I think I'm gonna do it again next year!
