At Molokai’s Parade of Lights, Christmas exuberance is expressed in delightfully unexpected ways. One year, a float featured a whole pig cooking on a rotisserie. Another year, spectators oohed and aahed at the menagerie on an entry — a bear, five deer and other animals that had been preserved by a taxidermist but looked amazingly alive.

For yet another parade, the congregation of Friendly Isle Christian Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Kau­na­ka­kai, festooned a fishing boat with red, gold, blue and green lights; brightly wrapped gifts beneath a 4-foot-tall Christmas tree; and rolling waves and full-size ahi and mahimahi made of heavy-duty cardboard. A duo in Santa hats and tinsel lei sang carols as they played a guitar and an electric piano.

"Participating in the parade was a wonderful experience," said Cameron Hiro, pastor of the church, now known as Heart of Aloha. "Everyone from kids to kupuna worked hard to create the float, and we found out later that we won first place! We didn’t even know there was a decorating contest; we just did it for fun."

Hiro is now coordinator for the parade and accompanying hoo­lau­lea, together known as Once Upon a Molo­kai Christmas, one of the island’s biggest annual events. It’s an evening full of the wonder and whimsy that make Christmas such a magical time.

"We’ll have more than 20 floats and marching units in this year’s parade," Hiro said. "Groups such as families, the Boy Scouts, the Fili­pino Club and grocery store employees sign up ahead of time so we can organize the lineup, but we never know what they’re going to come up with. One year, the Molokai Game Fowl Association had live chickens on their float."

The parade will end at Kau­na­ka­kai Ballpark, where the hoo­lau­lea will already be in full swing with games; musical entertainment; food such as mala­sa­das, candied apples, poke bowls and Hawaiian plates; and vendors selling merchandise including toys, clothing, jewelry and beauty products. Contestants will vie for cash prizes in competitions for making desserts, decorating Christmas trees and, just for keiki, crafting ornaments. And, as always, Santa will be on hand to take pictures with the kids.

Born and raised in Mau­na­loa on the west end of Molo­kai, Hiro remembers Santa throwing candy to crowds during parades in Kau­na­ka­kai when he was young. "My friends and I darted out in the street to pick up as much as we could," he said. "We don’t do that today because of safety issues, but I still smile when I think of the big bag of candy I took home — it was just like Halloween!"

In 1971, Hiro’s dad got a job with a painting company on Hawaii island, and the family moved. When his father died in 1977, Hiro moved back to Molo­kai and graduated from high school there in 1979.

For the next 14 years, however, he lived on Hawaii island, earning associate degrees in food service and auto mechanics from the University of Hawaii at Hilo before working at restaurants in Hilo, Wai­mea and Kona. All the while, Molo­kai tugged at his heartstrings.

In 1993, then married with two children, Hiro settled in Kau­na­ka­kai. Today, in addition to shepherding the congregation at Heart of Aloha, he is operations manager for Hawaii Kai Corp., a gourmet sea salt company, and the owner and operator of Psalty Acres, his family’s salt farm.

"I wanted my family to experience the safe, peaceful, unpretentious country life that I experienced growing up on Molo­kai," Hiro said. "It’s a place where ohana extends to the community."

Like Hiro, Barbara Hali­niak was born and raised in Mau­na­loa and lived away for many years after graduating from high school. She worked for GTE Hawaiian Telephone (now Hawaiian Telcom) in Hono­lulu for 24 years before moving back to Molo­kai in 1993 to take care of her aging dad.

In 2005 she founded the nonprofit Molo­kai Island Foundation, while running her own bookkeeping business. "We’re committed to spearheading events that build camaraderie, respect and goodwill, and celebrate everything that’s special about Molo­kai."

In 2008, community leaders asked the foundation to launch an event that would brighten the holidays for an island struggling through adversity and controversy. That April, Molo­kai Ranch had shut down, closing a 22-room lodge, a camp at Kau­poa Beach, a golf course, trail rides and other visitor activities that had employed 120 residents.

For five years prior the ranch had been seeking approval from the state Land Use Commission to develop 200 luxury homes on Laau Point, a prime beachfront site. "People were torn between the prospect of gaining jobs and losing the essence of what Molo­kai is and should remain: a sleepy, rural, unspoiled place," Hali­niak said. "Something positive was needed to unite the community."

Once Upon a Molo­kai Christmas is now a much-anticipated tradition. In Hali­niak’s opinion, the best part of the parade is watching spectators cheer and applaud friends and family as they pass by.

"Our community is so small, everyone pretty much knows each other, if not by name, then by face," she said. "Also, at the parade, public figures such as policemen, firemen and our County Council representative are seen in a more personal light."

The parade and hoo­lau­lea bring everyone together on a level field, literally and figuratively, to enjoy great food, entertainment and one another’s company. "It’s a big party, Molo­kai style, which means visitors are welcome and embraced like kama­­aina," Hali­niak said. "It’s a down-home celebration — no glitz, no glamour, just plenty of joy, laughter and aloha. And, really, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?"

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.