The public is invited to celebrate World Ocean Day with family-friendly activities and educational booths in Kalakaua Park this Saturday.
World Ocean Day is on June 8 every year and is an internationally recognized day of awareness designed to encourage people to start and continue restoring and protecting the oceans.
The Downtown Hilo Museum Square — which includes Mokupapapa Discovery Center, East Hawaii Cultural Center, Hawaii Science and Technology Museum and Pacific Tsunami Museum — will be hosting an event aimed at keiki education for the third year in a row.
Staff from the Pacific Tsunami Museum will be at the park to teach attendees how to identify the types of waves and the sounds that come during an oncoming tsunami and to discuss Hilo’s history.
“Our activities will be keiki-oriented to best teach them what to do if they ever have to encounter a tsunami, which is our main mission,” said Heather Weiss, visitor services associate at the museum. “We are trying to focus on being at as many events as we can to educate people while becoming more involved in the community. World Ocean Day is perfect for that.”
The Hawaii Science and Technology Museum will host an activity in its exhibit hall involving microscopes and the tiniest creatures of the ocean from Chaminade University’s “I AM A SCIENTIST” program. At the park, the museum’s Hummingbirds Children’s Chorus will perform at 10 a.m. followed by the youth band, Two Years Apart, at 12 p.m.
EHCC will be offering its Youth Art Series ocean printmaking activity across the street, and the Mokupapapa Discovery Center will have an informational booth in Kalakaua Park.
Students from the Waiakea High School Key Club have volunteered for the event and will be making UV bead bracelets with keiki, while discussing the environmental benefits of reef-safe suncreen.
The Big Island Genki Ball Project will be present to show attendees how to make the genki balls, which will then be used to clear toxins in the Kalakaua Park pond and the ponds at Lili‘uokalani Park and Gardens.
Zero Waste Hawaii Island is bringing a resuable and recycle sorting game, Keiki Labs will have ocean science activities, and the Big Island Water Garden Club will demonstrate how to take care of the park’s water lilies.
The Kenyan K. Beals Community Robotics Center will have its normal programming, but will feature a special activity involving the ocean and robots on the second floor of Mokupapapa on Saturday. Throughout the summer, the Robotics Center is open for free keiki activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Some downtown businesses, including Big Island Climbing, Big Island Bookbuyers, Crazy Beautiful Poke Market, RK Woods Gallery and Wade Morales Photography Gallery, are offering specials to celebrate the day as well.
The Palace Theater and the Malama Kai Foundation are presenting a free panel discussion event all about “Sustaining Our Seas” for free at the Hilo theater at 12 p.m.
Chris Hawkins will host a guided discussion with Greg Asner, Lauren Nakoa and Cindi Punihaole, followed by a talk with the audience.
Asner’s work as a renowned marine ecologist has significantly advanced the understanding of marine ecosystems, Nakoa has used her position as a community leader to focus on cultural and environmental preservation, and Punihaole is representing the Kohala Center, an organization dedicated to research, education and conservation in Hawaii.
The Palace will continue to celebrate the day with a showing of “Finding Nemo” for keiki at 2:30 and a made-in-Hawaii documentary, “Keeper of the Bay,” at 7 p.m.
The Kalakaua Park activities for the Downtown Hilo Museum Square’s third annual World Ocean Day will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
World Ocean Day continues to perpetuate collective action for a healthy ocean by offering free, customizable resources to its growing network of youth leaders and more than 2,000 organizations in over 150 countries.
For more information about World Ocean Day, visit worldoceanday.org.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.