Stories from the Field: 3rd Annual Puakalehua Celebrate ʻOhana Festival
The Puakalehua Celebrate ʻOhana Festival was a success again!
Keiki visit the Department of Education’s Special Education table to make calming crafts.
As always, we were excited to be a part of the Puakalehua Early Learning Consortium’s annual event. The latest iteration had a short distance venue change over to the Queens’ Marketplace in Waikoloa, while still maintaining free admission to the Keiki Museum and their mini golf course at the Kings’ Shops just down the road.
The Keiki Museum entrance running the free popcorn and cotton candy booth.
As always, the event featured wonderful early learning providers and supporters. Twenty organizations volunteered to host tables with hands-on keiki activities and goodies, along with plenty of information. This year the Consortium welcomed food handler-certified volunteers from KOKA to provide free hot dogs for families, in addition to popcorn and cotton candy at the museum. Centered around the main stage at the Queens’ Marketplace, keiki and keiki-friendly performances, raffle drawings, face painting, lawn games, and more kept everyone entertained throughout the day.
While we did not survey our 1,200+ attendees, the organizers and volunteers reported great reactions from families, and enthusiasm to continue hosting these events for the community. I felt a similar vibe from my post on the Keiki Museum side of the event, watching 450+ families enjoying the festivities, entertainment, and many hands-on exhibits.
Inside the Keiki Museum during a rare quiet moment. The Police Department booth printed Keiki IDs for families.
Mahalo to funders/donors/vendors
The festival was again a collaborative event organized by members of the Puakalehua Early Learning Consortium, with support from Friends of the Future, Baby Steps Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Keiki Museum, and Queens’ Marketplace. Many local businesses and organizations also donated refreshments, prizes for giveaways, and more.
Support Puakalehua
Visit Puakalehua’s website for information about the work we do, as well as ways to volunteer, partner, and donate!
Socials:
Facebook: @puakalehuaconsortium
Instagram: @puakalehuaconsortium
Explore More and Find Resources
Curious to learn more about early childhood, find service providers, and perhaps even explore the career possibilities? You can click the links in the previous sentence to visit pages on the Puakalehua website. Here are some other places to look:
https://www.babystepshi.com/ - Hawaiʻi Island-based hub for family and provider resources.
https://www.patchhawaii.org/ - for families looking for providers and people seeking to become providers through support and scholarship programs.
https://www.koka.org/ - find service providers and all kinds of keiki and ʻohana programs.
https://www.readykeiki.org/ - find public pre-k providers and tuition scholarships through the State’s Ready Keiki Initiative.
https://www.rd.hawaiicounty.gov/economic-development/early-childhood-resources - learn about the County’s early childhood initiatives, including workforce development (scholarships, certificates, apprenticeships) and professional development (conferences).
https://aimhhi.org/ - find resources and clinicians for infant mental health.
Poi pounding activity by AIMHI.
Advocate for early childhood
Lastly, we encourage everyone to advocate for early learning and early childcare providers wherever possible. These vital educators are sometimes overlooked in discussions about educator labor shortages and pay.
All images courtesy of Hōkūpaʻa and the Puakalehua Early Learning Consortium Steering Committee.
