Community members take the initiative to clean Hilo’s statue of King Kamehameha I

The Royal Order of Kamehameha took initiative and put together a group to clean the King Kamehameha I statue in Hilo.

Over the years, the members of Moku o Mamalahoa noticed the statue getting dirtier and dirtier, although they didn’t know whose responsibility it was to take care of the statue.

Hans Mortensen decided to take the project under his wing and get a team together to clean the statue.

Mortensen reached out to Kamehameha Schools East Hawaii alumni and the Hawaii State Foundation of Culture and Arts and discussed what should and shouldn’t be done to clean the statue.

“Since we’ve never done this before, we wanted to make sure we took care of it properly,” Mortensen said. “We got ahold of a conservation coordinator and they purchased field supplies and proper soap for us. We gathered those tools, a few brothers from the Royal Order and we accomplished it last Saturday.”

Ten Royal Order brothers came together last Saturday and spent a few hours scrubbing the dirt and mud off the statue, which now glistens in the sun.

“We are so grateful for the opportunity to clean the statue as it is a symbol for us,” Mortensen said. “It’s not every day regular citizens and the Royal Order can do something like this. Many people recognized our service too and were happy to see the progress. It was a good day.”