Hawaiian festival, regatta comes to Lake Las Vegas this weekend

By Dave Clark

Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008 | 12:33 p.m.

The seventh annual Hawaiian Isle Festival and Outrigger Canoe Regatta Saturday and Sunday at MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas is expected to draw 200 paddlers and will feature Hawaiian martial arts for the first time.

The festival, hosted by the nonprofit Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The highlight of the two-day event featuring food, music and entertainment, will be the regatta, a series of canoe races expected to draw teams from Hawaii, California, Canada and Arizona.

The regatta was added in 2003 to differentiate the festival from other Polynesian celebrations in the Las Vegas Valley, Regatta Committee Chairwoman Janet Ronan said.

"We're the only regatta in Southern Nevada," she said.

The races, which run throughout the day, feature 12 categories of competition from Novice to Golden Masters (55 and older). Ronan said she is routinely impressed by the older paddling contingent.

"They are phenomenal," Ronan said. "There's something about it that makes you young. I guess it's just the usage of all the different muscles along with the passion to be out there on the water."

A highlight of Sunday's festivities will be the 11 a.m. demonstration by Olohe Solomon Kaihewalu, who practices lua — a formerly secret Hawaiian martial art used by King Kamehameha's elite guard.

"It almost died out it was so secretive," Ronan said.

She said Kaihewalu and his students will showcase his family's brand of lua with weapons.

"It's supposed to be bone crunching," Ronan said. "It's meant to hurt people and protect the king."

Other entertainers will include the Japanese taiko drummers, the Tevakanui Polynesian dance group and music group Hawaiian Soul.

Dave Clark can be reached at 990-2677 or [email protected].