Joan Manke is stepping down after working as head of the Friends of Honolulu City Lights

Friends of Honolulu City Lights Executive Director Joan Manke, who is credited with improving the popular holiday event at City Hall and extending the revelry to Kapolei Hale in recent years, is stepping down from the post after this year’s go-around.

The main job of the nonprofit Friends group is to raise funds that help subsidize the program. It does so by securing corporate sponsorships, selling event-themed tree ornaments, and getting a share of the revenues from food and trinket vendors on City Hall grounds during the monthlong Honolulu City Lights celebration.

The group raises about $100,000 annually, which pays for the foam, cement, paint and other materials that go into creating and refurbishing Shaka Santa, Tutu Mele and the other characters, the ornaments on the main tree, and other large displays and decorations that populate the Honolulu Hale grounds each winter. The money also goes to paying for a share of the materials used by city employees in various agencies who put up the array of elaborately decorated trees in the Honolulu Hale courtyard, as well the opening night concert.

Manke’s group also pushes for its corporate sponsors to adopt movie nights or other free events during the program.

Customer Services Director Sheri Kajiwara, who oversees the city side of the operation as Honolulu City Lights coordinator, said Manke’s contributions have been plentiful.

Most importantly, “she’s always been a calming factor for everyone involved in the program,” Kajiwara said. “She has a very can-do attitude. When other people say ‘too hard,’ she finds a way to get it done.”

Because Manke preceded her as program coordinator, Kajiwara said, she knows the ins and outs of both the city and nonprofit sides of the Honolulu City Lights operation.

During Manke’s five years as Honolulu City Lights coordinator, the Kapolei program went into full bloom by including new features such as its own parade. (This year’s Kapolei tree-lighting ceremony and parade are Dec. 10.)

Longtime Honolulu City Lights coordinator Carol Costa, whom both Kajiwara and Manke call the brainchild behind the 32-year-old event, led the Friends group from the time she retired as customer services director at the end of 2004 until 2010, when Manke was tapped to be its first executive director.

Manke “has done a fantastic job handling and expanding the program over the years,” said Costa, who herself continues on as a volunteer director for the Friends. “We will miss her greatly in that capacity.”

Manke’s been leading the group even though she and her husband, Jim, began living in Portland, Ore., part time several years ago. Technology has made that possible by allowing her to run meetings by telephone.

“We were very, very fortunate to have her working on the program all year long,” Costa said.

While she’ll be stepping down as the Friends’ executive director, Manke said she intends to continue to provide input by staying on the group’s board of directors.

“You can never let go of Honolulu City Lights,” Manke said, pointing out that the delight in the faces of children visiting the displays continues to be priceless. “Once it’s in your blood, it’s in you forever, just like with Carol Costa.”

Manke is vacating the $18,000-a-year job to spend more time with family. Her first and only grandchild, Aija, recently moved back to Honolulu. “I enjoy being called ‘Tutu,’” she said.

Loretta Jardine, a longtime Friends volunteer who recently retired from Hawaiian Telcom, is slated to be the new Friends executive director.