The Kahuku Elementary School May Day celebration attracted community members to enjoy the children’s performances and wide variety of costumes, music, and decorations. Participants and audience members expressed feelings of fulfillment and community unity, knowing all the hard work put in paid off.
“This is a celebration that is anticipated all year round. Parents and community members voluntarily help with decorations, the making of costumes and choreography. It is just great to see the community come together,” said Faith Craycroft, a teacher at Kahuku Elementary. Craycroft added she was grateful to be able to join the children in their performance.
The event took place on May 1 at the Cannon Activities Center from 9 to 11 a.m., where children and staff from Kahuku Elementary School and community members joined together in efforts to make May Day successful, according to Carlo Carrasco, Vice Principal of Kahuku Elementary.
“This is also my first May Day that I have witnessed and seeing the excitement of everyone, especially the children shows that all the hard work we put in paid off,” added Carrasco.
Each grade level picked their theme, which resulted in a wide array of costumes, music and decorations to represent the Japanese culture, Hawaiian culture, and so forth, said Carrasco. Professional hula instructor Kuhi Southard volunteered to teach the 6th grade class hula for their performance and said volunteering was a way for her to “give back to the community.”
She said seeing her children excited to perform is worth all the hard work and extra effort. Faye Fukuyama, a community member, said she comes to the May Day celebration each year and is “always surprised each year.”
She explained each year is different because the community makes an effort to make it special. “This year was different because the decorations were different and each class danced a different dance from last year which makes me look forward to the following ones,” continued Fukuyama.