Long tables covered the floor at McArthur Court, and a Hawaiian band serenaded diners while the smells of Hawaii filled the arena, decorated with signs hanging from the rafters. Nearly 1,000 people attended the University Hawaii Club’s 30th-annual lu’au Saturday night for an evening of Hawaiian culture.
Planning and practice for the eight-hour event began fall term. More than 80 dancers committed their weekends for the past three months to learning and perfecting more than 15 Hawaiian and
Polynesian dances that made up the main show.
Traditional Hawaiian food was prepared and served with spices shipped from Hawaii for a menu that included kalua pig, shoyu chicken, lomi lomi salmon, poi, white rice, haupia, macaroni-potato salad, guava cake and fresh pineapple. A country store sold handmade leis and other products from Hawaii, such as jams, coffee, macadamia nuts and other snacks.
“We have been trying to get it all coordinated,” show director Loni Yonemura said. “The hardest part has been motivating dancers and the scheduling. Now we are seeing it all come together and get to see the whole thing.”
Members of the Hawaii Club spent more than 12 hours at Mac Court on Saturday preparing for the event. Large to-do lists hung from bleachers, dancers rehearsed and groups scattered throughout halls in organized pandemonium.
Boxes containing leaves and flowers piled up as groups sat on large tarps braiding leis for the performers and to be sold at the event. Dancer and instructor Tiare Duncan, who headed up the lei making, held the end of the lei between her toes and expertly braided leaves into a wrist lei, which took about
20 minutes to make.
“I learned how to make leis at home,” Duncan said. “I have been dancing hula since I was young. The lu’au is as authentic as
possible.”
Lu’au coordinator Katy Mokuau said before the show that the group has “tons of cargo” shipped from Hawaii. Parents also helped by shipping items for the lu’au. Duncan said her mom sent a box of ti leaves.
While the $18 ticket price seemed high to some, many who
attended believed they got their money’s worth.
“I had like four plates of food, the concert was great and the dancing — oh my gosh,” freshman Matt Scott said. “The pork was really good; the Hawaiian desserts were great. They definitely know what they were doing.”
Scott went to the event with a large group to support a friend who was dancing in the show and said the lu’au is an event he will attend every year.
“I want to go to Hawaii now,”
he said.

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