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Helping the Carvers
The life of an International Festival of Canoes sponsor

by By Jen Russo

May 12, 2005

Kristen Robinson will long remember the team of Marshall Islands carvers she had to care for last year. They were here taking part in International Festival of Canoes, and they became family to her. They would sing beautiful Marshallese songs to her every night in the van when she picked them up and brought them back to the hotel after their day of carving.



“When I picked them up at the airport they were very shy,” she recalled. “Only the master carver could look me in the eye. When I dropped them off at the airport they gave me lei after lei.”



Robinson’s work with the Marshallese was obviously important to her, since she had to juggle her Festival duties with her normal responsibility as executive secretary to the Maui Marriott Ocean Club’s Project Director in Sales and Marketing.



The International Festival of Canoes is an internationally acclaimed event bringing canoe-carving teams from all over Polynesia to Lahaina. Their goal is to demonstrate and share the importance canoe voyaging holds in their respective cultures.



“We became involved in Festival of Canoes early on in the event,” said Maui Marriott General Manager Bill Countryman. “[Organizers] Theo Morrison and Jerry Kunitomo introduced this great concept of the Festival and we have always wanted to support it.”



It’s actually a lot of work being a sponsor. After all, the sponsors have to provide housing and meals for teams, but also have to be their liaison to Lahaina.



Most carvers come from out of state. Many of them don’t speak English. Their sponsors are the ones they look to for support. For all of their hard work the sponsors get to keep the completed carved canoes at the end of the event. These they very happily display for many years to come.



Last year a master carver from New Zealand presented Countryman with a canoe paddle in a special traditional ceremony that explained the significance of the carvings. This year the Marriott will be getting from the Baldwin High School team’s canoe. It will be dedicated to Donald Joel Howell, Jr. Howell was the Marriott’s Project Director in Sales and Marketing until he recently passed away.



Every year the event grows with new teams and sponsors signing up. This year the Lahaina Inn and Lahaina Restoration Foundation are co-sponsoring the New Zealand team. The 505 Front Street shopping complex will host the Marshall Islands team.



The Aston Ka’anapali Shores resort will sponsor the Tahiti team. This year the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel will be sponsoring a team that will be carving three-foot model canoes made from Koa wood. The Royal Lahaina will host a team of Tongan carvers and the Ritz-Carlton will take care of the Hawai’i team.



For the third year in a row the Westin will be hosting the Cooke Island team. Starbucks Hawai’i will support Lahainaluna High School’s student carvers. And Maui Community College will host a team building the Festival’s Hale Halawai, a traditional gathering place for carvers.



“When you do something for the community it is fun, it’s not work,” said Robinson. “Mr. Marriott was very involved in giving back to the community. With this event we are representing our culture’s future. This knowledge is very important.”







For more information call 667-9175 or go to www.Mauicanoefest.com. A festival schedule is on page 22. MTW