This May 1st, 2012 a Lei Day festival will be held at the East Hawaii Cultural Center. Here are the details from the Examiner:

Queen Hokulani will preside over Hilo’s community Lei Day Festival, themed “He Mo`olelo ko ka Lei – A Story of the Lei” on 1 May, 2012. The festival, held in the East Hawai`i Cultural Center, opens at 10:00 am with the decorating of the ku`ahu Lei, and closes at 3:00 pm with the singing of Hawai`i Aloha. The festival is free and open to the public.

Queen Hokulani also invites the public to join her for tea at Lei Day, on the upstairs lanai of the Cultural Center. While the event is free, seating is limited, so tickets are required. inquire at info@LeiDay.net.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Hilo Lei Day festival releases official Royal Portrait – Honolulu Culture | Examiner.comhttp://www.examiner.com/article/hilo-lei-day-festival-releases-official-royal-portrait#ixzz1snfmtiFd

Queen Hokulani has lived an exciting life and has worked with many famous people. The article also says:

She also danced and choreographed for,and toured with, Don Ho, Tommy Sands, Dick Jenson, and Elvis Presley. Probably she is most familiar to Continental audiences as the Blue Hawaii solo dancer in Elvis Presley’s Blue Hawaii TV special. Hokulani also has been featured at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel as lead dancer and choreographer.

Hope you can make it.

Here’s a real estate listing for a Hilo Condo. What is it doing on a Maui website???

Take a break with condo living in an excellent location!

Newly renovated! Move-in-ready.

This 1-bedroom 1-bath is centrally located to banks, dining, drug store, schools, State and County Buildings and within walking distance of almost everything in downtown Hilo.

It must be fun for those Maui folks to do an open house. Sure it’s a short plane flight to Hilo. But still, it’s a plane flight!!!

What they don’t tell you in the listing is that it is right next to a Burger King. If you like flame broiled burgers, this is definitely the place for you.

Two reporters were fired by our local newspaper. I don’t know all the facts, so I won’t comment on who was right, but the feds essentially told the newspaper tough nuggies, go and reinstate the reporters and pay them for six years of back pay, which might amount to $200,000. All I can say is ouch.

According to the article:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s appeal of a NLRB decision that reporters Dave Smith and Hunter Bishop were illegally fired. Bishop was fired after a confrontation with Editor David Bock over a union matter where Bishop was accused of insubordination. Smith was fired for secretly recording a meeting with Bock where the editor gave him a warning about productivity.

As I said, I definitely don’t know all the details, so I can’t say who’s right or wrong. I just thought that this was an interesting story that I don’t recall seeing in our HTH.

The LA Times recently posted a list of things to do in Hawaii. On their list: swim with turtles, be a Hawaiian cowboy, do the Ironman, visit a farmer’s market, go whale watching, drink some beer, ride a helicopter, visit a jungle and talk story.

Swimming with turtles is fine. But please don’t touch them. That is illegal here in Hawaii.

Be a paniolo. I guess that this could be fun, but it sounds like hard work to me. But if you are coming from Oklahoma, it sounds a little too ordinary for you. But to each his own.

Do the Ironman. Sorry not unless you are an elite triathlete. They even reserve a number of spots for locals but it is still super hard to qualify even for a someone like me. I was just way too slow. Oh well.

Visit a farmer’s market…like these don’t exist else where. But I will say that we do have some interesting fruits and vegetables.

Go whale watching. Whales are cool. But they scare the heck out of me. 30 foot boat, 100 foot whale. You decide…

Drink beer. Hey I can’t complain. But why is it that Heinenken seems to be more popular than locally made brands? At least Primo is back, but it is owned by a company from Chicago. Though the beer sold locally, at least, is made on Kauai.

Ride a helicopter to see the volcano and the snow on Mauna Kea. This sounds like fun, but a little extravagant for me. But I guess if I was visiting I could see the rationale for splurging a little.

I liked this quote from the LA Times:

Talk story, brah! In Hawaii, “talk story” can mean anything from two old friends getting together to catch up to a more organized storytelling celebration such as the Talk Story Festival, held annually in Honolulu. On the Big Island, each month on the Saturday evening closest to the full moon, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel’s cultural ambassador and respected kahu (Hawaiian minister and cultural guardian) Danny Akaka hosts “Full Moon Talk Story” on the lawn next to the hotel’s Love Cottage. This free monthly gathering draws throngs of locals and visitors alike, who hear everything from Hawaiian musicians to island elders telling oral histories of Hawaii.

At least the writer is working on learning some pidgin. Maybe I should send him one dictionary.

According to the Star Advertiser, Hilo Hattie will be downsizing its Ala Moana Store:

Local retailer Hilo Hattie, popular among tourists for its aloha shirts and Hawaii souvenirs, is closing its Ala Moana Center location on the makai side of the mall and moving to the mauka side, where it will focus more on local customers.

The existing 8,351-square-foot street-level Ala Moana store near Old Navy will close April 30. The company will reopen May 1 at a 1,920-square-foot prototype Hilo Hattie Kamaaina Collection outlet on the opposite end of the mall adjacent to Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

I guess the rent there was too high. I heard that Ala Moana has one of the highest rent per square foot in all of the Pacific for retail space. At least the Hilo Hattie’s here in Hilo, Hawaii has remained untouched. But what do I know, it’s not like I run the company or anything.