Hawaii Tribune-Herald Sunday, April 16, 2017 25 2017 Merrie Monarch Festival From parade veteran to After marching in 52 Merrie Monarch Festival Royal Parades, Wendell Ka‘ahukane Leite will sit this one out — waving to the crowd in a convertible while his longtime cohorts entertain the assembled throngs lining Hilo’s downtown streets. The former Hawaii County Band trombonist, who marched in every Merrie Monarch parade until his retirement from the band in October 2015, is the parade’s grand marshal this year, his reward for 70 years of service. “He was in high school when he started in the band,” said parade coordinator Missy Kaleohano. “He’s probably logged the most parade miles of anybody on foot.” “You should have seen him in the Merrie Monarch parade,” Susanella Noble, a flutist in the band, told the Tribune-Herald when Leite retired. “Every other person along the route knew him and said hello. He’s one of those kinds of people.” Noble described the retired HT&T vice president as “always happy” with “a kind word for everybody” and “very modest, very gifted, so humble.” Leite will occupy a place of honor in the parade, along with the newly crowned Miss Aloha Hula and the Royal Court, which features real-life husband and wife Eli and Lokelani Kipilii as King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi‘olani. The parade’s pa‘u marshal and pa‘u queen are the father-daughter duo of Donald Soares Medeiros and Laurie Lewis. “As far as I know, that’s a first,” Kaleohano said. “After last year’s parade, I was talking to Aunty Luana (Kawelu, the Merrie Monarch president), and she thought it was a first.” Medeiros is a retired heavy equipment operator and a member of Hawaii Operating Engineers Local 3 with a background in ranching, rodeos and raising his own horses and cattle. He was introduced to his first pa‘u unit in the Merrie Monarch parade by his brother-in-law, John “Johnny” Medeiros Jr., and it has since become a family tradition, one that often includes his sister, Carol Ku‘ulei Hughes-Okada. Lewis, Medeiros’ daughter, reigns as pa‘u queen. She has Wendell Leite, retired Hawaii County Band trombonist, is the grand marshal for the 54th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival Royal Parade Saturday in downtown Hilo. represented all eight islands as a pa‘u princess in the Merrie Monarch parade. Her unit, Ka Hui Holo Lio o Ka ‘Ohu Lehua, is comprised mostly of the Medeiros’ ‘ohana, including another Medeiros daughter, Donette Iyo, as an attendant. Rounding out the riders are his grandsons, great-grandchildren, nephews, grandnieces and friends. “Laurie’s actually bringing in a trolley for the relatives who don’t ride as a way to thank them for their support over the years. I’m pretty sure we’ve never had a trolley in the parade before,” Kaleohano said. In addition to the pa‘u, a group of Waiakea High School students led by teacher Kawika Urakami will ride the parade route on horseback with a message of special importance to the Merrie Monarch Festival. “It’s basically their Hawaiiana unit riding with the theme of E Ola Lehua, live life like a lehua,” Kaleohano said. “They’re trying to draw attention to rapid ohia death and also emphasizing the importance of the ohia lehua within the Waiakea ahupua‘a.” The festival’s hula competition has instituted a voluntary ban on ohia lehua, one of hula’s prime adornments, because of the fungal disease that has devastated HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald Hawaii Island ohia forests. The pomp and pageantry of a parade strikes a responsive chord with just about everyone, although reasonable people can and do differ about their favorite units. Kaleohano expressed a fondness for the pa‘u, the uniquely Hawaiian equestrian units. “You know, the bands are great, they’re exciting and they’re important because people want the music coming down the street. But for me, what makes the Merrie Monarch parade different from other Hilo parades are the horses,” she explained. GRAND MARSHAL Former longtime county band member to lead royal procession By JOHN BURNETT Hawaii Tribune-Herald See PARADE Page 26
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