Fall 2023 41 KARL MAASDAM; OSU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES; COURTESY OF HUI O HAWAI’I CREDIT TK 7 A LITTLE BIT OF THE ISLANDS The bright sound of a strumming ukulele. The lingering scent of roasted kalua pig. For 68 years, Oregon State has celebrated the culture of Hawaii with the Hō‘ike, meaning “show” or “exhibit,” and Lū’au, meaning “feast” — OSU’s largest student-run event. In the event’s first years, during the 1950s, only about 150 students hailed from Hawaii. (In 2022, there were 500.) Finding themselves 2,500 miles from home, they decided to bring a little bit of the islands to Corvallis and started an enduring tradition of sharing their culture with the OSU community and strengthening the school’s tightknit Hawaiian family. This spring,90 student dancers filled the LaSells Stewart Center to showcase dancing traditions, telling stories passed down through generations in chants and songs. Parents on the home islands sent about380 poundsofnativeflowers,bushelsofisland greenery and other cargo like handmade jewelry, pineapple gummies and frozen kulolo desserts. “Hula is about poetry and movement,” says SandyTsuneyoshi.Sincethe1990s,thelong-timeOSU community leader a" ectionately known as “Aunty Sandy,” has mentored the Hui O Hawai’i student club that puts on the festivities.Volunteers and studentsturned-chefs whip together menus in the Global Community Kitchen, blending local food and traditional fare: shoyu chicken, tofu poke and, of course, smoked kalua pork — 420 pounds worth this year. Tsuneyoshi has seen the event sell out venues for the past 27 years (except when the pandemic paused live events). This spring, Beavers snapped up all 1,200 tickets days before the festivities. —SIOBHAN MURRAY Nº ↗Dancers at the 2023 Hōʻike and Lū’au at the LaSells Stewart Center. ↖A variety of dance cards survive in OSU Special Collections and Archives.
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