This year, we almost shut down the festival. The previous two years had almost no attendance, and the volunteer corps was burned out. Several of our volunteers had moved away, following jobs. With the attrition, and the bad experiences of the previous three years, there was not a large enough group left to put on the festival.
When I told Ben Ka`ili that I would be shutting down the festival, he introduced me to Dennis Taniguchi, then director of the East Hawai`i Cultural Center. Dennis offered EHCC as a fiscal sponsor for the festival. He also pointed out that Kalākaua Park, across the street, was the site of the early community Lei Day festivals in Hilo.
After we agreed to change the venue to Kalākaua Park, I learned that my Aunty Hazel Carter Yuen had been one of the first Lei Day queens for Hilo. The 2010 festival was the largest to that date.
For the first time since year one, it included an art show which explored the lei as cultural metaphor. The show filled all three galleries of the center, and works ranged from steel sculptures to paintings to kapa panels, feather lei, to a display of vintage Hawaiian hula and formal wear displayed with the appropriate lei for each garment. Imagery depicted the voyage of the goddess of lei making, her many aspects, lei `aumakua, and utilized both impressionistic art, and representational art.
The art show took four of us three days to set up. But it was beautiful! Several lei makers demonstrated different types of lei. Several local musicians and hula dancers performed through the day, and Meleana Manuel brought her hālau and band. The County of Hawai`i RSVP kūpuna volunteers acted as hostesses. Keoki Kahumoku, as he had done every single year from the first festival, headlined for us. ~Leilehua Yuen
Recording of Kumu Leilehua during practice for that year. E kala mai, no video. Just audio