On Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. Kauai lights it up with grand opening of the Festival of Lights. The festivus tropicus starts with joyous caroling by the Kauai Chorale and the Kapaa Middle School 8th Grade Choir. Santa crash lands in downtown Lihue, with help from local tiny elves, of course, and leads a countdown to the ignition of the hundreds of thousands of Xmas bulbs strung around the towering palms and the historic county building. Santa and Mrs. Claus will take Xmas wish requests in a magical “Fern Grotto” surrounded by orchids, hibiscus, anthuriums and taro. Miniature Hawaiian hale (homes) in the Na Pali Train Village are ringed with Hawaii-themed ornaments like sweet shave ice, luminescent rainbows, feral roosters (?) and dolphins. There’s even one exhibit of a surfing Santa getting tubed. Add to this a bevy of lighted floats in the Xmas Parade and you have a light to remember. Parking could be kinda crazy as they are expecting a crowd of 5,000 souls so you might want to go have an early noodle bowl dinner at Hamura's and walk over.

Map

—Alex, 11/30/06