LahainaTown denied a Halloween permit

Tag : outdoor clogs

WAILUKU - While it looks as though Lahaina's big Halloween bash onFront Street could start to shrink beginning this year, Mauirevelers won't have to put their blue beehive Marge Simpson wigsand sequined-Elvis jumpsuits in long-term storage.
The Maui County Cultural Resources Commission on Thursday deniedpermits for the LahainaTown Action Committee to conduct a Halloweenprogram, including a costume contest. But it can't preventHalloween from taking place, and Maui police said they will preparefor a crowd, organized or not.
Lahaina is designated a state and national historic district, andmembers of the Cultural Resources Commission concluded Thursdaythat the annual 30,000-person costume party does nothing to promotethe town's Hawaiian cultural history. In addition, the cases ofpublic drunkenness, lewd behavior and risque costumes insult thelegacy of the town as a former capital of the islands, opponentssaid.
The commission voted 6-0 against requests for permits to set upfood, activity and craft booths as well as erect stages by theLahainaTown Action Committee. However, the commission did approve apermit for the afternoon keiki costume parade held by SoroptimistInternational of West Maui.
The commission may be seeking to tamp down the party, but it isexpected to go on, said members of LahainaTown Action Committee, abusiness marketing group involving Lahaina hotel, shop, activityand restaurant operators. The committee began to coordinate theHalloween event when it was drawing hundreds of revelers to town inthe 1980s, with no controls in place.
But the coordination that closed off Front Street and sponsored acostume contest increased the appeal, drawing thousands of peoplefrom around the world to Maui during what is otherwise a slowertourist period.
As the Halloween event grew in popularity, bars and restaurantsbooked entertainment, and set up their own costume contests. Thatwon't stop, merchants said.
However, without formal advertising and outdoor booths for food andcrafts and music venues as well as the extremely popular costumecontest, Lahaina's Halloween could be hurting soon, supporters ofthe event said.
"It was a decision that everybody that we told are in absolutedisbelief about," said LahainaTown board member Joan McKelvey. "Howare they going to run the thing? Who is going to oversee it? Whowill pay for the two extra policemen we pay for and clean up theday after? That is a monumental task in itself."
She said the committee pays to rent the 22 portable toilets thatare placed on the streets to stem public urination.
"That's one of the main reasons we got involved," McKelvey said."We don't even get a penny out of this. All our T-shirt sales go tolocal charities. What will they do now?"
People will still come, McKelvey said. With the businessassociation barred from sponsoring any events, the county may needto pick up the slack, she suggested.
County spokeswoman Mahina Martin said the administration and countyand state agencies - parks, health, transportation and police -will need to meet in the near future to figure what the county'sresponsibilities will be in the coming years.
Martin also said she can understand why the Cultural ResourcesCommission voted the way it did. The event grew up fast, keptgetting bigger and bigger. The event and Lahaina's commercialactivities are overshadowing nascent efforts to emphasize Lahaina'spre-contact history as the former capital of Hawaii.
"This didn't just come out of nowhere; people have been talkingabout doing this for years," Martin said. "But Halloween wasn'tkilled by the CRC decision. I think it dampens it. But we wouldencourage people to think about where they want to celebrateHalloween now."
LahainaTown Action Committee Executive Director Rina Sampson saidthat the commission's decision means that the committee will nolonger be able to advertise the event, which was done worldwide.
Event opponents have said they hope that with less advertising,fewer people will come. And then the historic district will bebetter preserved. Besides, they said, Halloween is not a NativeHawaiian - or host culture - holiday, so it is not appropriate forthe Lahaina Historic District.
"What do you want Lahaina to be remembered for, the host culture'simportance as far as the home of the alii or royalty or for theHalloween party," said commission member Kalei Moikeha. "It justseemed like it was very disrespectful for the host culture to allowthese stages to be set up in the district."
Moikeha said the commission's role is to protect, preserve andrestore the historic districts of Maui, and the members were doingwhat's right.
The cultural opposition to the LahainaTown Action Committee'shandling of the event has snowballed since 2004, when the committeeapproved T-shirts that featured a headless Hawaiian warrior onhorseback holding a pineapple. McKelvey said the insensitive shirtswere a mistake and were never sold.
The party also clogs four blocks of Front Street with people andHonoapiilani Highway with traffic for much of the day and night.
A new county shuttle bus system was credited with reducingcongestion last year. Martin said the county will evaluate whetherto continue the special bus service, which was in place for theLahaina Fourth of July celebration on Friday.
The Planning Department had recommended approval of the actioncommittee permit, saying that the music stages, arts booths andfamily-orientated events actually promoted more creative outlets tobar hopping.
The one-night party has been in existence since a local man puttogether a harem-themed wedding in the mid-1980s and walked hiswedding party down Front Street. He did it again the next year forfun, and the costume party blossomed from there, McKelvey said.
But it wasn't officially coordinated until the LahainaTown Councilstepped in in 1990 and worked with police to close a section ofFront Street to accommodate the crowd in the street. Police arescheduling an additional 80 officers that night to try to controlthe sometimes unruly late-night crowds.
Because Halloween falls on a Friday this year, police Capt. CharlesHirata, commander of the Lahaina Patrol District, said the crowdcould be larger than last year.
He said police still plan to close a portion of Front Street totraffic during the night and to have additional officers working tomonitor the crowds.
Last Halloween, police arrested 24 people for 32 offenses, mostinvolving disorderly conduct, underage drinking and drunkendriving. In addition to having uniformed officers posted along thestreet, special arrest teams walk through the crowd looking forillegal activity.
"Our response is going to be the same, no change," Hirata said. "Weknow there still are going to be a lot of people coming into town,despite not having an organized event. It's not like Halloween isbeing canceled."
Staff Writer Lila Fujimoto contributed to this report. ChrisHamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com .