California Lutheran University’s Kupa’a Hawai’i Club hosted their annual luau on Thursday, April 17 in Kingsmen Park. The event featured Hawaiian food, a live band, hula performances by students, fire dancers, and raffle prizes.
According to Hawai’i Club’s co-presidents Adriana Maroney and Allie Lam, this year’s luau theme was called “Aloha Aku No, Aloha Mai No,” meaning: “I give my love to you, you give your love to me.”
“It’s a really big part of our Hawai’i culture. and that’s kind of what stems everything and from that are hulas, our decorations, our message just came from the message of aloha and giving love to everything around you,” Maroney said.
Lam said the theme, involving the word “aloha,” encapsulates different ways of giving love.
“A lot of people know it as ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye,’ but it also means love, and it’s a spirit,” Lam said.
According to Lam and Maroney, they both went full force in prepping for the luau since the beginning of the spring semester.
“Luckily, because luau is a yearly event, we have a lot of resources in our shared documents from years in the past about what to do first and how to go about things,” Lam said. “So it was pretty laid out for us from our president last year, Sophie.”
Maroney said last year’s club president helped set the planning for this year’s event. According to Maroney, she and Lam started planning and fundraising in the fall semester, and then, throughout the process, they planned the setup, catering, and hula practices before the event arrived.
“It’s been kind of ongoing since then till now. So a lot of work, but it’s very exciting that it’s coming all together,” Maroney said.
According to Maroney, this year’s luau was very fun and exciting with the new addition of a fire dancer. Maroney said they had a fire dancer at the luau during her freshman year, and it is not easy to get one.
“I think our club has done a really good job of coming together to make it special for everybody else,” Maroney said.
At the event, four first-year students, Maia Ciccarello, Cam Alexander, Laine Gilluly, and Joli Fong said they had a great time, especially since this is their first time attending and participating in the luau.
“I love it. I think it’s a really cool way to, like, kind of bring people out here all together. And it’s just a very fun, like, way to kind of eat some good food and, like, listen to good music and everything,” Ciccarello said.
Alexander said she agreed with Ciccarello’s statement, further mentioning Kingsmen Park being a great place to have the event, with the lights and everything else.
“It’s wholesome, it’s authentic, the food is great, I love it. I look forward to it next year. Love the vibes here,” Fong said.
Gilluly said the event was very welcoming and waiting for the food did not take long, which is nice.
According to Lam, she enjoys seeing everything come together and everyone having a good time, especially the dances and the food.
“It just, like, is a connection to home for me, because, like, I get very homesick here,” Lam said. “It’s a good way for me to hang out with the other people from Hawai’i who are very special to me, but I might not see them every day. And it’s just so fun.”
