The 2025 Kaimuki Christmas Parade lit up Waialae Avenue and the people around. A couple of 100 people show up to the parade if not a couple of thousand, including the people watching the parade and the people in it. The kids marching in the parade brought the Kaimuki community together.
The parade began last Thursday, December 4th at 6:00 P.M. and started with St. Louis setting the tone and leading the march. Starting the parade at the oval parking lot in front of Ching Hall, turning left on Waialae Avenue and ending at Koko Head Avenue. The parade shut down two of the lanes on Waialae Avenue.
Lucas Stensland of H-1 Construction said that in their sixth year of the parade, “they love giving back to the kids and watching Hawaii grow every year.”
Stensland brought the aspect of construction with a leafblower and the festive theme of candy to “hand it out”. Stensland was innovative in the way of giving out candy, by putting some small candies into a leaf blower and shooting it into the crowd like a T-shirt cannon. The creation worked well and was paired with a truck with Grinch decorations covering it from the roof to the fenders. There were also Christmas lights hanging from the side of the vehicle to give more pizazz.
“We go into events that we like to sponsor”, Stensland said ” bring out the things that bring out the community, really help, especially today.”
Larry Nakano one of the directors for Miss Hawaii Teen Volunteer Organization held their pageant two weeks ago at Kaimuki High School and crowned Sydney Kim as Hawaii sweetheart and Lesina Matatumua-Vermeulen as Miss Hawaii Volunteer.
The two Miss Hawaiis were crowned based on four areas of competition; Private Interview, Physical Fitness, Talent, and Evening Gown. Then, with them being crowned, they were also put into the parade to walk.
“So our organization wants to create a partnership with the community of Kaimuki”, Nakano also said, “This is the fifth time that we’re participating in this parade.”
Going into the parade, Matatumua-Vermeulen mentioned she was nervous going into it, but also excited considering it was her first parade. Kim on the other hand did not did not what? with the experience of walking in other things when she was younger.
“I love making friends, especially with our sisterhood,” Vermeulen said talking about her long journey getting to where she is, “All of the contestants were like really close, especially with the limited amount of time we had.”
The two teens who were crowned made sure to walk by each kid one by one, giving them candy and spreading aloha through Kaimuki.