Oct 31 2005 Haleiwa, HI
Sunset on the Beach Review

The 2005 Sunset on the Beach had some challenges this year. Some of the neighbors along Haleiwa Road were concerned about
parking and safety issues so the parking was switched from Haleiwa Road to Kaiaka Beach Park. Even though we had adequate shuttles, people wanted to park close to the event and this created significant dissatisfaction on the part of the event attendees. Also, having both the Haleiwa Arts Festival and the Sunset on the Beach on the same weekend did not create the synergy we had hoped for. It did work out in terms of the historical tours and shuttles, but there was confusion as to where to go for the respective events as well as other issues. The consensus is this was not a good idea. Finally, we had hoped to hire an event coordinator so that Chamber initiatives could continue to progress during the event, but the City wanted an all-volunteer effort. Thus everything else at the Chamber pretty much came to a halt until the event was over and wrapped up. The event attracted an estimated 9300 people which was down about 15% from last year. There were about 2.1 million media impressions and at least 100,000 hits on the excellent website. So the North Shore received significant exposure from the event.

Thank you to all the coordinating committee members who planned and executed the event this year! Event Chairs: Kalani Fronda and Josh Heimowitz; Food Booths: John Moore and Hannah Otholt; Open Market: Dave Patton and Renee Becht; Keiki Corner: Elizabeth King and Debbie Alameida; Entertainment: Kevan Scott and Janet Maduli; MC’s: Skill Johnson and Ron Valenciana; Field Games/Contests: Gabe Wallman; Volunteer Coordination & Information Booth: Antya Miller; Parking: Richard Godoy and the North Shore Christian Fellowship, and John Rosa and the WHIS Boy’s Soccer Team; Historical Trolley Tours: Francis Forsyth, Meryl Anderson; PR/Marketing: Ron Valenciana; Graphic Design: Mark Swanson; Website: Trish Coder; Sponsorships: Regan King and Antya Miller; and the City’s staff and Civil Defense. A big mahalo to all the sponsors, vendors, and all the wonderful volunteers whose help made the event possible.

Since Sunset on the Beach was established after 9/11 to stimulate economic development and since the economy is robust at this time, the Chamber’s Board of Directors voted not to continue to be the lead non-profit for the event next year. However, there are some efforts by others in the community to see that the event continues.