St. Anthony Students Win Mikoshi Design Contest

St. Anthony students, courtesy photo.

By Wendy Osher

Twenty students at St. Anthony Junior-Senior School on Maui will travel to Oahu this weekend after winning the Honolulu Festival’s Maui Mikoshi Design Contest.

A mikoshi is a decorative float unique to specific prefectures in Japan that is carried by groups of celebrants during festivals.

The Maui group, led by Sensei Tokie Sidney, will showcase their winning mikoshi design at the 18th Annual Honolulu Festival, taking place this weekend.

The mikoshi will be on display on this Saturday, March 3rd at the Hawaii Convention Center; ad will be carried in the Waikiki Grand Parade on Kalakaua Avenue on Sunday, March 4th.

For the past nine years, the Honolulu Festival has been extending its reach to the Valley Isle by asking high schools students in Maui County to submit designs based on its theme. This year’s Festival theme is “Bonding together, hand in hand.”

“St. Anthony has designed an outstanding mikoshi that perfectly exemplifies this year’s theme,” said Keiichi Tsujino, president of the Honolulu Festival Foundation.

The Maui students from St. Anthony designed a colorful mikoshi with a world culture theme that incorporated motifs showcasing world unity.

“We are excited and humbled to have our small school be part of the Honolulu Festival Parade. Our students, with the guidance of Sensei Sidney, worked diligently on their design for the Mikoshi Design Contest,” said Principal Patricia L. Rickard.

The Oahu trip was sponsored by the Honolulu Festival Foundation, Hawaiian Airlines, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts and Kahili Golf Course.

The 18th Annual Honolulu Festival is a three-day celebration, highlighting the people and diversity of the Pacific and Asia through a showcase of arts and culture.  It was initiated in 1995 to help promote cultural understanding and harmony between people of Hawaii and the Asia-Pacific region.