The Pahala Town Lighted Christmas Parade is returning for the first time since 2019.
For 41 years, organizers Edward Andrade Jr., Judy Andrade and Mary Jane Ballio put on the special Christmas parade for the Ka‘u community to celebrate the holiday season.
The three retired after 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic made organizing a parade much more difficult until Shai Lopez-Castaneda stepped up and took over as the parade president this year.
“When Christmas time came along, I would always look forward to the parade. It brought Christmas cheer to the community,” Lopez-Castaneda said. ““Being the new parade president was a lot at first, but I’m grateful and blessed to be able to step in my uncle’s shoes after he worked on it for 41 years.”
About two-dozen organizations, businesses, churches and clubs have signed up to participate in the parade this year.
They include the Pahala Senior Club, Pahala Hongwanji Taiko, local sports clubs, churches and the Ka‘u Coffee Mill, among others.
The parade will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, with the route beginning on Pikake Street at the Royal Hawaiian Mac Nut Office. The parade will close down a portion of Pikake and Kamani Streets.
Participants will proceed up Pikake Street and turn right at Kamani Street, until turning right into the Ka’u Community Hospital. Participants will pass by patients and employees of the hospital while circling the parking lot, and then will turn left back onto Kamani Street before finishing at the Pahala Community Center.
“The past organizers request we continue visiting patients at the hospital, and we were more than happy to keep that special tradition going,” Lopez-Castaneda said. “This parade has brought families together from afar, and it’s amazing to bring smiles to children’s faces, but also the faces of long-term patients at our hospital.”
Lopez-Castaneda is hoping to make the Pahala Christmas celebration bigger and better each year and is planning on starting a tree-lighting ceremony and winter festival at the community center next year.
“Many people are so excited to have the parade back for our community, and the parade committee wants to continue to bring back the holiday spirit each year,” Lopez-Castaneda said. “In a rural area, we need stuff like this, too.”
Lopez-Castaneda hopes to honor the hard work of his predecessors and continue to make the parade an exciting, fun time for the communities of Ka‘u.
“As I take over the parade as the new president of the Pahala Town Lighted Christmas Parade, I will forever be grateful for all their hard work they did and honor them for their time and dedication to our community we call home,” Lopez-Castaneda said.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
