HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0711.128 2008-2010Yoshimoto, J
From: Tavares Elizabeth [elizabethtavares @mac corn]
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 6:13 PM
To: jyoshimoto @co hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Please fund Hawaii County Band
Dear, Council- member J. Yoshimoto.
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I attended a free choral concert at my college last night. I had such a good time. I started thinking about how important free
community arts are, how fortunate I was, and then I started thinking about the Hawaii County Band. I have been so
heartbroken since I heard last week of the band's discontinuation. Unsure of what to say to show my support, I was inspired
by the singers despite the fact that I had not understood a word they sang I am writing to you in support of the Hawaii County
band, and want to share with you a few reasons why funding should be reinstated.
I grew up in the Hawaii County Band. My mom played the flute in the band for a decade, and the members were my parent's
first friends when they moved to the Big Island, welcomed with open arms. The trombone section are all my uncles; one is my
little brother's godfather. My third grade teacher plays the drums. In fact, many of my grade school teachers are in the band,
as well as many role models and mentors. In high school, I was fortunate enough to add my little clarinet to the group, and
some of my closest friends joined as well. I was a geek. A bit lost. Yet, on Tuesday and Thursday nights, rehearsal was the
one place, unlike any other, that I could be myself and contribute to my community the best way I knew how
I do not need to tell you how integral the band is to the Big Island community. There are the monthly concerts and all of the
holiday parades. More importantly, I feel, were the Veteran and Memorial Day gigs, adding that sense of meaningfulness and
reverence to support families and reinforce the importance of their service. The band is also one of the pillars of the
Portuguese community, playing at "Portuguese Day in the Park" in celebration of its unique and beautiful heritage in Hilo
town. Some of my favorite memories as a little kid was helping my dad make the bean soup in the Carvalho Park kitchen,
mom playing the "Chamarrita" with the band and all of the aunties taking a break from making malasadas to dance around in
the grass.
The Hawaii County Band is also a community in itself; nothing is so honestly representative of Hawaii's diversity as this group
of people, working together in literal and figurative harmony. Regardless of age (fathers, mothers, spouses, kids,
grandparents) or occupation (teachers, secretaries, disc jockeys, salespeople, small- business owners, retirees), everyone is
an equal and supportive of one another. They come together twice a week, just as they are, to do one task: work together to
create something beautiful as best they can, and whose only goal is to share that with others by the end of the month.
I realize that times are tight. There is a housing crisis, a poor economy and a war. The budget is low and non - essentials are
cut. I, myself, was laid off last spring. I get it. But in these times when everyone is struggling to get by, it is services like the
Hawaii County Band that hold our community together —a little music in the park on a Saturday afternoon to get people by.
This institution has brought toy to theft audiences every month for the last 127 years, celebrating sharing music together and
with others —the end of each concert a reminder that these difficult times too will pass.
I am in graduate school now, out on the cold Midwestern prairies. Yet, it still warms me to think of my dad pushing me along in
a stroller behind the band during Christmas parades while my mom marched along, playing the "Stars and Stripes Forever" on
her piccolo. I realize my bias, but I know that I am only one of many so positively affected by the Hawaii County Band. As a
resident and taxpayer, I ask you to fund this important bulwark of our Big Island community. It is worth considering that when
all those things material seem to have gone awry, perhaps we should invest instead in those relationships that hold out
community together when the dollars simply cannot or do not.
Thank you for your consideration. o
Most sincerely, Or-
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- Elizabeth --I fT1
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Elizabeth Elaine Tavares r O C;
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3/5/2010 Ref [tea. MAR 2 9 2111n
710 W Church St, Apt 5 1 Champaign, IL 61820
PO Box 1041 I Hilo, HI 96720
el¢abethtavares @mac.com I 808.936.4485
Elizabeth Tavares, Graduate Student
Department of English 1 University of Illinois (UC)
tavares1 @illinois.edu 1 808.936.4485
3/5/2010
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