This weekend, the Lahaina community is coming home.
“It's a community-led, government-supported event to allow us, Lahaina, to be the very first ones to breathe life back into our own town,” said Lahaina resident Mikey Burke during a recent community meeting.
She's a member of the Economic Recovery Commission Healing Journey Team that organized Lahaina Homecoming.
On Aug. 1, Maui County plans to open sections of Front Street that have been closed since the wildfire.
But this weekend, that’s where Lahaina Homecoming will be held.
“Before the world comes back and becomes the main players on this beautiful stage of ours, we get to be the ones to go in first,” said Burke.
She said it marks a special opportunity.
“We can come together and start building that other layer of what it feels like to be home in our space, without it being because we're doing a hard thing, or fighting over a hard thing or advocating for a hard thing,” Burke shared with HPR. “We're coming together just for us, with no other purpose but to just be with each other.”
A partnership with Hawaiian Airlines is flying Lahaina families home. Lahaina resident Courtney Lazo helped lead a contest that’s providing tickets and accommodations for those living across the country. Lazo shared the news with her community during a meeting earlier this month.
“That doesn't matter if you left after the fire, or if you left 20, 30, 40 years ago. So originally we were going to try to fly home 80 people, and we approved 103. So 103 people from Lahaina are coming home,” said Lazo, amid applause.
Those individuals, representing 20 families, are traveling from the east coast as well as the west coast of the U.S. To receive the tickets, they entered the E Hoʻi Mai contest.
“A part of the submissions was for them to submit a video talking about their favorite memories of Lahaina, why did they leave Lahaina, would they come back what would it take for them to come back,” said Lazo. “Because people do want to come home, and I think we say this often: Lahaina is not Lahaina without its people, and we’re seeing our people and our community leave at a very rapid pace, so we want to make sure we do everything we can to keep them home.”
Event coordinator Daryl Fujiwara, who is from Lahaina, said the event has already made an impact.
“So a family from Alaska is coming, and Grandma is part of the family, and she told them she's not going back to Alaska,” Fujiwara explained. “She said, ‘You guys gonna leave me there. I going one way. This is a homecoming. I going home.’ And I just kind of like lost it a little bit, because it's like, this is what we want. We want the people of Lahaina to come home.”
A career fair will help create pathways for moving back, while cultural and community activities will offer space to heal and find joy together.
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the event represents an opportunity to reconnect.
“For most of these residents, especially those who moved away of course, they have not been back to the town for the last three years,” he told HPR. “So it's a chance for them to reconnect, see each other, see how the town is looking today, imagine how it will continue to be rebuilt, and just be back with community and renew all those relationships.”
Fujiwara said Friday kicks off with a cultural celebration.
“The first night was dedicated Kaibigan Ng Lahaina’s Palengke Night because we want to definitely include our Filipino community. They're a huge part of Lahaina.”
The rest of the weekend will feature a lineup of musicians, favorite food trucks and lots of time to catch up with friends.
“On Sunday we're going to be doing something really cool and unique,” explained Fujiwara. “We're going to basically run the biggest Kanikapila ever, with the support of Mana Maoli from Oʻahu. They're bringing a bunch of different artists to come and just play music, sing, include other community members who want to just kind of pop in, strum their ukulele for a couple chords. So we're just looking forward to all of this beautiful music, right? Because it's food and music that bring us all together.”
Burke knows exactly what she’s looking forward to the most.
“The hugs,” she said, her voice full of emotion. “I'm really, really looking forward to embracing people and just seeing for myself that they're okay. And if they're not, how do we help them be okay?”
She sees the impact of Lahaina Homecoming extending for generations.
“My hope is that this one thing can be something for someone, and that that grandchild will remember these homecoming events, and that be the anchor for them to say, ‘I'm ready to come home,’ Burke said. “It doesn't matter that they're two generations away from actually being birthed here, this is still their home.”
Visit the Lahaina Homecoming website for more event details.
