CITY SETS WORLD’S LONGEST LEI RECORD   

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii, and today, at the 81^st Annual Mayor’s Lei Day Celebration at Kapiolani Park, Honolulu set the record for the World’s Longest Lei.

Unofficially, the lei measured 5,336 feet in length, more than a mile.

“We exceeded our goal,” said Mayor Mufi Hannemann.  “We were hoping to reach one mile.  I want to thank the people of Honolulu, and especially the dedicated and hard working members of our Department of Parks and Recreation in addition to our corporate sponsors and volunteers, for making Lei Day 2008 the biggest and best in recent memory.” 

After taking office in 2005, Mayor Hannemann challenged the Parks department to reinvigorate this uniquely Hawaii holiday and enhance Lei Day activities so that the day will reemerge as a premiere cultural celebration of Hawaii.

“The Department and Director Les Chang have certainly risen to that challenge,” Hannemann said.  “This year, we had 152 lei entered in our lei contest in various categories.  That’s up nearly 50% from the 106 entries last year, and exactly double the 76 entries we had in 2006.  I couldn’t be happier for the growing turnout and participation in Lei Day, and would love to see it continue on this trend over the next several years.”

Contact: Gail Haraguchi    692-5725