Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-03-07
MARCH Z, 1914
den.
The FLORAL PaRiDE..ITs Future

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The Floral Parade as a part of Hawaii's an
nual Mid-Paciiic Carnival is losing its hold OF
popular Interest
Il is no writ of .'knocking'' which prompts
TINS stateme1 The statement has been heard
very widely in the last two or three years. Ii
1oes notsmean that the.Floral Parades have not
been successful But they have been successful
only through increasingly exhausting efforts on
the part of the Encouragement and his special
eommittees in charge of this feature.
Last month the Floral Parade was triumph
Of no small size for James s. MeCandless and
ms assistants. They found, as every Floral Pa
fade committee in recent years has found, a
strange apathy on the part of ninety per cent OF
the auto-owners of Honolulu, an apathy that
prevented large entry list of decorated cars,
nn Indifference that took the hardest kind OF
intelligent and persistent effort to overcome
The truth is that repetition year after year of
this feature is beginning to wear out its welcome
The philosophical people who have decorated
constantly deserve all praise, but it isnot to be
wondered If, on the part of local autoists at
least, the event is losing its novelty and largely
its attraction
What can be substituted for the Floral Pa.
Ialeg
The Star Bulletin suggests serious considera.
ton of the idea of an historical pageant For
such pageant there is a marvellous wealth of
material upon which to draw, a strikingly inter
sting, coherent plan to carry out.
In California, Oregon and other states such
professions have been tried with remarkable
success They are interesting alike to the old
timer and the newcomer. They are spectacular
and Instructive, picturesque and educational
Hawaii could furnish forth a pageant of in
tense interest and permanent value to the peo
pie Of the territory. Beginning with. the olden
times, before the coming of the first white man
the history of the islands would be made to pass
before the spectators in series of life-pictures
Of historic significance and accuracy. All the
Romance, all the primeval custom and tradition
al the development of Hawaii since the din
dawn of song and story would be graphically il
Iustrated in a long procession representing the
generations and centuries of growth and achieve
met From the days when each island warred
against every other, from the time of the first
and the great Kamehameha, the story of Hawaii
would be brought down year by year to 1915
The coming of the first white men, the arrival Of
|||L tllkteSlOItFleS With the F0SullduC <duudlS d
Ieroic effort in an isolated country, the era Of
tie whaling fleet, the revolutions, the republic
The territory, and the various subdivisions Of
period and of industrial and social evolution
ali these in vivid human pictures.
The possibilities are limitless. The process
sion could be made large or small, elaborate Oh
sinple-the material is at hand for any degree
of effort
There is no reason why such pageant would
Interfere with the annual Hawaiian spectacle
which i'm two years has won the right to be rec
ognized as fixture on the Carnival program
The Hawaiian spectacle is the development Of
some single striking episode in history, some ira
dition or story that lends itself happily to repro
duction in fhe form practically of pantomime
An historical pageant would not detract from
the interest of the annual spectacle
Such pageant would need considerable ad
vance preparation and if determined upon
should be begun several months before the Car
niral. 1t is suggested that the schools of the
territory should be given a prominent part in
the preliminary work and in putting on the
pageant for the great educational value to the
schOol-children of such an undertaking
Tup lrm emma