Sierra Madre Surf Club Luau, 2003

June 28, 2003
Proceeds to be donated to the softball field restoration program

Mahalo to the Sierra Madre Surf Club for a Luau That Was Loads of Fun Saturday night, the Sierra Madre Surf Club held its 4th annual Luau, featuring a 16-piece Polynesian Hula show and and a live band. More than 200 people attended the luau, to feast on pulled pork, teriyaki chicken, steamed rice, salad, macaroni salad and rolls. Draft beer from the Sierra Madre Brewing Company², maitais, and wine were on sale cheap, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was a surprisingly large presence of kamali'i (that's Hawaiian for children) at the kid-friendly (hotdogs were served for the kids) luau. My Polynesia of Fountain Valley provided the hula show, with four musicians, 2 male and 5 female adult dancers, and 5 Kamali'i dancers. My Polynesia also provided the feast. After the hula show, a raffle was held, and Dave Choate won a skateboard valued at $200, while Bob Matheson won the $650 Bruce Jones surfboard. When the raffle was over, a band led by local guitarist Dave Osti entertained the crowd for the rest of the evening. Proceeds from the luau will be donated to the softball field restoration fund. We have nearly 5 dozen pictures from the Luau here. All in all, it was a good pa'ina (that's Hawaiian for party), with the only complaint we heard being that it ended too soon!! Click on a picture below to see it full size.

Pre-crowd shot of surfboards

Susie McConnell (l) and Darlene Traxler (r) were among the volunteers working the front door

Surf Club Pres. Billy Traxler arrives (again)

Pre-crowd view of seating accommodations

Tim Anderson puts raffle prizes on display

A shot of the volunteers who helped out in the bar

Pre-crowd view of seating accommodations, a little closer, a different angle

Former mayor Glenn Lambdin, his friend Liz, and someone we don't know

Billy T points something out for Mama Pete

Some of the kids occupied themselves with tetherball

Early crowd shot

Ditto

As we said, it was kid-friendly

Billy S. arrives at Billy T.'s Luau

The mist-ers helped keep everybody cool (the mai tais helped, too!)

My Polynesia of Fountain Valley provided some delicious Mea 'ai (Hawaiian for food)

The food line

The crowd chows

Ditto

Kids get ready for the hula show

Ditto

My Polynesia musicians warm up

The blowing of the conch shell signals the beginning of the luau

Alooooooohaaa!

The keiki (child) dancers

Dad and daughter look away from the hula show for a second

While it wasn't locals only, there were a lot of locals there, including Darren Oden

The crowd watches the hula show

Ditto

Now, back to the show

Some "volunteers" were pulled from the audience

All 16 dancers/musicians came out for the grand finale

Dave Choate wins a skateboard valued at $200 in the raffle

That's Tim Anderson bringing out the grand prize surfboard, donated by Bruce Jones Surfboards as Billy T looks on

Then they realize the winner is not present. Fortunately, he's just a cell phone away

So Bob Matheson came back to the luau to pick up his surfboard

Same picture, without Billy T

A few minutes later, Dave Osti's band started playing

We learned that fog machines can cause eerie reflections in photographs

The dancing starts

How does everybody dancing manage to turn their back on the camera right as we press the shutter button?

She used to sing with a band called 3rd Gear (and may still), but we've forgotten her name - does a mean Bobby McGee

Tiki torches light the path to and from the Luau