Final Curtain
Hamakua Music Fest ends 12-year run
by Nicole Pugh
On a chilly evening last February,
past volunteers and board members of the Hamakua Music Festival met
in the back room of the Tex Drive-In in Honoka'a. This small group of
people would decide the fate of the event that had, for the last twelve
years, been a major entity in the Big Island music scene, as well as
an integral part of music enrichment for the children of the Hamakua
Coast.
"The question is," Hamakua Music Festival founder and outgoing
president David Pettus began, "will there be a music festival after
this meeting or will there not?"
Pettus was doing his best to keep spirits up that night, but he couldn't
help sighing a little, as he recalled another meeting last October when
a similar question was raised. That meeting, which was attended by about
45 people, came on the heels of "Final Curtain for Hamakua Music
Festival?" (HIJ 10/07/06). The article was the catalyst for the
October meeting's surge in attendance.
According to one former board member, the meeting room that night was
electric with hope and possibility.
"[They] were aware that the founders and other key members of the
board were going to be retiring, and this was creating a vacuum that
needed to be filled," reminisced Pettus. "There were about
three dozen people who all said the festival had to continue, that 'you've
got to continue.' A few people even said 'I'll do something.'"
But out of the 250 people sent invitations to the February 18 meeting,
only seven people came; most of those were longtime volunteers and board
members.
So, the festival is pau. An event that once hosted the likes of Rita
Coolidge, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jesse Colin Young, James
Moody and piano virtuoso Awadagin Pratt, and started the careers of
Brittni Paiva and Theresa Bright, is now a thing of the past.
The scholarship competition will continue this year. A committee was
formed specifically for the 2007 competition, and finalists will perform
on April 21 at 7 p.m. at the People's Theatre in Honoka'a. Current board
members Dave Pettus, Ada Lamme and Carolina Pinto will stay on for a
few more months to tie up loose ends, vacate the office and liquidate
the organization's assets.
And there may be a glimmer of something else on the horizon. Since the
October meeting, a few people have been meeting to explore the possibilities
of building something new. Francois Benoist, a small business owner
who lives in Honoka'a, is one.
"It is still kind of in progress, but we came up with a mission/vision/value
statement about growing the organization," Benoist explained. "It
included things like delivering musical programs to the schools, which
was one of our primary goals. We grew a vision real big, and then we
brought it down to what would be more practical steps."
But many more people willing to walk their talk are needed to make anything
as significant as Hamakua Music Festival happen again, or even for the
youth music scholarships and other programs to continue. In addition
to the scholarship competition, in the past the Hamakua Music Festival
has funded part-time music teachers in area schools as well organized
in-school performances with Festival musicians.
David Pettus, always an optimist, put the Festival's end in perspective
in his closing comments at the February meeting:
"If we had started a show on Broadway 12 years ago and were just
now wrapping it up, we would be having one hell of a celebration! It
was far beyond anyone's imagination, all the things that happened during
the last 12 years. So, we did it! Let's celebrate and get on with the
business of completion and one more time around for the kids."
For more information about the scholarship competition, call Dave Pettus
at 775-9932. If you are interested in getting involved in building a
new festival vision, e-mail Francois Benoist at jeanfbenoist@gmail.com.
On the Web
Final Curtain for the Hamakua
Music Festival?
hawaiiislandjournal.com/2006/1007a.html
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