Hawaii: Today in History 11/01

11-01-1947 First Aloha Week Parade held in Hawaii

The Aloha Festivals are an annual series of free cultural celebrations observed in the state of Hawaii in the United States. It is the only statewide cultural festival in the nation. Highlights include the presentation of the Royal Court, a ho’olaule’a in Waikiki, and the Floral Parade. Approximately 30,000 people volunteer to plan, organize, and provide labor for the Aloha Festivals each year. Their efforts entertain over 1,000,000 people from throughout the state and visitors from all over the world. In the spirit of preserving the Hawaiian culture and heritage, the Aloha Festivals were established in 1946 as Aloha Week by former members of the local Junior Chamber of Commerce. The former manager of the festivals, Goriann Akau, has said, “In 1946, after the war, Hawaiians needed an identity. We were lost and needed to regroup. When we started to celebrate our culture, we began to feel proud. We have a wonderful culture that had been buried for a number of years. This brought it out again. Self-esteem is more important than making a lot of money. The festival was celebrated on six of Hawaii’s islands, but in 2008 festival organizers decided to hold most events on Oahu due to a lack of funding. There was also the chance that the Floral Parade would be cancelled altogether, but it was saved by private donors and funds from the City and County of Honolulu.

11-01-1954 Actor John Wayne (47) weds actress Pilar Pallete in Kona, Hawaii

Pallete was born as the daughter of a Peruvian senator in the Paita Port (northern Peru). She married and divorced professional big-game hunter Richard Weldy.[1] She met John Wayne, 21 years her senior, in Lima, Peru, in 1953, while still married to Weldy. Wayne was in Peru scouting locations for The Alamo.[2]

In 1953, Pallete came to Los Angeles to dub a film in English, when she ran into John Wayne for the second time. A year later on November 1, 1954,[2] they married in Kona, Hawaii, the same day Wayne’s divorce became final. Pallete retired from her motion picture career to be a wife and mother to their three children: Aissa, Ethan, and Marisa