ʻImiloa Turns 14 With A Focus On Sustainability
ʻImiloa Astronomy Center at UH Hilo invites the community to join in the celebration of its 14th Birthday on Sunday, February 23, from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. This year’s theme: Birthday Re-Wrapped showcases a full day of hands-on activities, planetarium shows, presentations and exhibits on ways to recycle, reuse and reduce waste. Sponsored by KTA Super Stores, admission to ʻImiloa’s birthday event is FREE for the whole family. Birthday cupcakes will be distributed to the first 1,000 visitors or until supply runs out.
“Building a healthy and sustainable community is increasingly vital as the world progresses around us. Equally vital is the loyal support of KTA Super Stores toward ʻImiloa’s educational and cultural mission and outreach throughout our 14-year history,” said ʻImiloa’s Executive Director, Ka’iu Kimura. “We are extremely grateful to the late Barry Taniguchi for KTA’s steadfast contributions to ʻImiloa and for exemplifying what a strong community pillar can achieve. Toby Taniguchi’s demonstrated passion, diligence and abilities will allow us to welcome new collaborations in addition to honoring Barry’s legacy,” added Kimura.
ʻImiloa’s birthday offerings will include a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities. The exhibit hall with various interactive displays will be open to the public free of charge throughout the day. The full dome digital planetarium will offer a rotating delivery of two shows: Space Junk (a new live show) alternating with Fragile Planet. Hands-on activity stations include Cardboard Kingdom which uses cardboard boxes to make toys and playhouses for kids; Imagination Station which shows ways to repurpose buttons, bottle caps and paper by creating artwork and toys through imagination and creativity; Stitch-n-Fix where visitors can learn how to mend clothing to prolong its use; Bee's Wax Wrap where one can learn how to use fabric and bees wax to make wraps for covering food instead of using the standard plastic wraps.
Presentations on recycling-related topics will be held in the CyberCanoe room, housed within the exhibit hall. Various community partners such as Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, Hawai‘i Wildlife Center, Recycle Hawai‘i, County of Hawai‘i, UH-CTAHR, Hawai‘i Environmental Restoration, Kokua Harvest, Sustainable Island Products, Community First as well as UH Hilo will be participating as exhibitors demonstrating ways to recycle, renew and reuse different items that would normally go straight to trash. Learn about marine debris and how we can reduce the amount of trash entering our oceans, what is been done to repurpose "trash" to help wildlife patients, how to recycle different items and reduce our impact by practicing pono consumer choices, how to properly decompose food waste, problems with fishing lines, what the fishing line recycling program does and more!
“Happy 14th Birthday ʻImiloa Astronomy Center! ʻImiloa’s continued community outreach to educate and encourage learning, such as spreading awareness of reducing, reusing, and recycling, will help make our community a better place! KTA Super Stores is proud to support an organization dedicated to educating our community and investing in our island home. Little things can make a big difference! Malama honua!” said KTA’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Toby Taniguchi.
Scavenger hunt with a prize for each keiki will be available until supply runs out. KTA Super Stores will be on site to sell food and drinks in sustainable packaging.