{"id":495,"date":"2026-05-23T08:04:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:04:49","slug":"volunteers-gather-for-annual-sew-a-lei-for-memorial-day-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Volunteers gathered in Honolulu Hale Friday to \u201csew a lei for Memorial Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Maui couple fends off tiger shark in frightening Olowalu encounter<\/a><\/p>\n

Every year, community members come together before Memorial Day Weekend to sew and gather 38,000 lei, one for each grave at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my fourth year, and I just think it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d said Oh Sugai, who volunteered to sew lei for the annual tradition. \u201cI have family up at Punchbowl, so I think about him. This is going up to his grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lei-making was spread across 17 venues over two days. Friday\u2019s event at Honolulu Hale included live Hawaiian music and hula. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is a great way to, not only show appreciation for those who have served our country, but to also connect with community on that shared thread,\u201d said Honolulu Parks and Recreation spokesman Nate Serota. <\/p>\n

The city says this year, the tradition encountered a setback: a shortage of plumeria from local groves due to March\u2019s devastating Kona low storms. <\/p>\n

Read more Man accused of ramming stolen truck into police vehicles appears in court<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the storms earlier, there were no plumeria,\u201d said Catherine Chang, a lei-making volunteer for over 10 years. \u201cWe were worried about the shortage of plumeria.\u201d <\/p>\n

Officials said individual donations are helping to close the gap.<\/p>\n

Graduating students are encouraged to donate their fresh lei from their celebrations at Punchbowl Cemetery.<\/p>\n

Lei drop offs:<\/h1>\n

The 75th Mayor\u2019s Memorial Day Ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. Monday and is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The program includes oli, color guard, presentation of wreaths, firearm salute, military aircraft flyover, playing of taps, performances from the Royal Hawaiian Band and Sounds of Aloha, and hula from the 96th Lei Court.<\/p>\n

Read more Gov. Green appoints Makai Freitas to UH Board of Regents<\/a><\/p>\n

LEARN MORE: <\/b>Mayor\u2019s Memorial Day Ceremony<\/b><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than 70 years, the community has come together to sew and drape lei as a way of saying mahalo for the military\u2019s service and sacrifice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nVolunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For more than 70 years, the community has come together to sew and drape lei as a way of saying mahalo for the military\u2019s service and sacrifice.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T08:04:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T08:04:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495\"},\"wordCount\":331,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495\",\"name\":\"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event - Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T08:04:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=495#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event - Hawaii Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event - Hawaii Moving Insider","og_description":"For more than 70 years, the community has come together to sew and drape lei as a way of saying mahalo for the military\u2019s service and sacrifice.","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495","og_site_name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-05-23T08:04:49+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"headline":"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event","datePublished":"2026-05-23T08:04:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495"},"wordCount":331,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495","name":"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event - Hawaii Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif","datePublished":"2026-05-23T08:04:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1ec5e8e84dda32216c5af3cfc2c3e2cc.avif","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=495#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Volunteers gather for annual \u2018Sew a lei for Memorial Day\u2019 event"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/","name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}