Honolulu Festival will feature fireworks, fun
The Honolulu Festival returns to Waikiki next weekend with fireworks, a fire-breathing dragon and anime delights.
The festival, with its theme "Bonding together, hand in hand," is scheduled for March 3 and 4. Performances are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hawai‘i Convention Center, Ala Moana Center and Waikiki Beach Walk.
Keiki will delight in the Ennichi corner that includes a fish-scooping game, water balloon yo-yos, cotton candy sales, yukata dressing and a selection of masks featuring American and Japanese cartoon characters. It will be open at the convention center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 3 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 4.
The Grand Parade is the annual highlight of the festival, with its lavish illuminated floats and fire-breathing dragon. The parade begins at 4:30 p.m. March 4 and will run the length of Kalakaua Avenue, followed by the Nagaoka Hanabi Fireworks display at 8:30 p.m. off Waikiki Beach. Hawaiian105 KINE will broadcast music synchronized to the fireworks display.
Visit www.honolulufestival.com for more information.
Play introduces tolerance to very young children
Kids as young as preschoolers can acquire their elders’ values and perspectives on the world. Rodgers and Hammerstein addressed that fact with their controversial song "Carefully Taught," in "South Pacific." Honolulu Theatre for Youth and playwright-director Annie Cusick Wood approach the same issue with "blue."
Wood said the play, recommended for children age 3 and older, is intended to introduce very young children to the ideas of tolerance and diversity.
The hero, Blue, is happy living in a world where everything is blue. When other colors come into his comfortable all-blue world, his life shifts.
Wood hopes that "blue" will give children the courage to try new things and "a curiosity for the rich world around us." — John Berger, Star-Advertiser
Turn the rhymes loose during a party for Seuss
If your keiki are fans of "The Cat in the Hat," "The Lorax" and other Seussian creations, head over to the Children’s Discovery Center Friday to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss, one of the world’s greatest children’s book authors.
The center is hosting a playful birthday party from 10:30 a.m. to noon, during which keiki can create "Cat in the Hat" crafts, experiment with "oobleck," play a silly game inspired by "The Foot Book," decorate cupcakes and sing "Happy Birthday."
Everyone is bound to have a Seuss-tastic time.
Dr. Seuss, born March 2, 1904, as Theodor Seuss Geisel, published more than 60 children’s books featuring imaginative characters and silly rhymes.
The Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center is at 111 Ohe St. in Kakaako. The birthday party is free with admission ($10 per person, $8 for kamaaina and military, free under 12 months), but cupcakes will be sold for $1.
Call 524-KIDS or visit www.discoverycenterhawaii.org for more information.
Get creative with sea life during Ocean Crafts Day
The Living Art Marine Center is hosting an Ocean Crafts Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 11.
Activities include gyotaku fish printing, shell carving and shell jewelry. Participants can also make a shark-print T-shirt.
The center, at 3239 Ualena St. No. 100, features tanks of colorful fish and a Discovery Zone where kids can touch hermit crabs and sea stars.
Admission is free (with the online coupon), though separate costs apply for craft supplies. To find the online coupon and RSVP, visit livingartmarinecenter.com and click on "Specials."
For information, call 841-8080.
