Fun Saturday in Hilo Town!

We had a great time with our friends Marsha and Ray on Saturday November 8th. They had spent the night at our new house the night before because we had gone to Black and White night in downtown Hilo (see pictures above of Ray and Marsha as well as our great friends Sharon and Kelly and one of many local bands who were playing in many venues).

On Saturday morning we went to the Hilo Farmer's Market and then went to Mo'oheau Park in Hilo for the E Malama 'Aina Sustainabilty Festival. There we ran into our friend Sonia Martinez who was running the Freecycle Booth at the festival. Freecycle is a network of people who post items that they have available for free to takers. Living on an island makes sustainability extremely important and Freecycle keeps things out of the land fills while also providing needed items to people.

The Hilo Veterans Day parade went right past the park and there were free folding chairs to use, so we sat and watched the parade, clapping for the various soldiers as they came by. The marching bands were also fun and I especially liked the ones in bright shirts and white pants or shorts... so Hawaiian.

It is great to be part of a town that is such a close knit community. While Hilo has 50,000 residents and it is the second largest town in Hawaii, it retains a very small town feeling. It is like going back in time at least 40 years. There are very few tourists and those that are there fit in with the locals, not your typical tourists, instead they are people interested in the volcano or other natural wonders that you can hike or kayak to around the East Coast of Hawaii. It is a land of adventure and incomparable beauty as well as lovely people from so many cultures.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany