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From The Barstool By PubClub.com’s Nightlife Blogger
Devastated. Destroyed. Gone.These are the words people in Maui are using to describe the island’s main town, Lahaina after wildfires that will forever be known as the Summer of 2023.
Gone? How can a town be gone?
“All the places that are tourist areas, that are Hawaiian history, are gone, and that can’t be replaced,” Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot with tour operator Air Maui, told the Associated Press said. “You can’t refurbish a building that’s just ashes now. It can’t be rebuilt — it’s gone forever.”
When I read that and several other accounts from people there, as well as watched the footage, I could not but help shed a few tears.
The town is special to Hawaiians – it was royal residence of King Kamehameha, who unified Hawaii under a single kingdom by defeating the other islands’ chiefs– and to me, too. I enjoyed going there while in Maui, having out at the open-air and breezy Cheeseburger in Paradise (which is not affiliated with Jimmy Buffett, by the way) and the other bars after a day hanging loose at Kaanapali Beach or driving around parts of the island.
One memorable night, tho, I did not make it to Lahaina. I ran into some locals who invited me to a friend’s bachelor party!
I can’t imagine what it would be like to be there now. I suppose I would go to one end of Front Street and just stand there with my mouth open, unable to move for what would probably be hours, pausing only to shake my head on occasion and say, over and over again, “wow.”
And I would shed a few more tears.
From The Barstool is a column on nightlife as seen from PubClub’s blogger from the perspective of a barstool.
Ono Hawaiian BBQ Donating To Hawaii Community Fund
Ono Hawaiian BBQ will be donating 50% off all online sales, Sunday, Aug. 20, to the Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement: Kākoʻo Maui Fund to aid wildfire recovery. It is valid at participating Ono locations but not on third party online orders. This follows Ono Hawaiian BBQ’s previous fundraiser on August 11, where the company raised $60,000 in donations for the Hawaiian Community Foundation.
Orders can be be made at https://order.onohawaiianbbq.com/.
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