Editor’s Page: Season’s Greetings
What will you do with your two more hours of sunlight?
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PHOTO: KAREN DB PHOTOGRAPHY |
I’ve been yelling at the HONOLULU team for about two months. Every time we mentioned the month of June, I would counter by shouting, “Best Summer Ever!”—usually while waving my arms ecstatically in the air.
It was frightening and a little manic. I’m not going to lie.
But there is something about summer that makes me want to rejoice. It dates back to elementary school when my family would take advantage of the school break to take monthlong road trips on the Mainland, crisscrossing as many as five states, stopping at every historical marker and national park along the way. It was the days before cell phones, when my sisters and I would bury ourselves in books (after fighting over who had to sit in the middle seat, legs scrunched up to account for the bump in the floor) or search through ever-changing radio stations as my dad drove for hours, my mom navigating with AAA maps that we could never fold again the right way.
My sisters and I at Crater Lake in Oregon. My Cabbage Patch Kid, Leila, was in every single photo that year.
Photo: Christi Young
During my first job in West Virginia, we acknowledged the longer days with pau hana that would stretch past 9 p.m., when the sun would finally set. Once I returned home, it wasn’t quite the same. We only gain about two hours of daylight during the season versus the seven additional hours of sun Maine gets during the summer. Even the National Weather Service says on its page about our climate (weather.gov/hfo) that “For most of Hawai‘i, there are only two seasons: ‘summer’ between May and October, and ‘winter’ between October and April.”
That was, perhaps, the impetus behind my almost inexplicable glee over the cover story we came up with after brainstorming with our art, sales, marketing and editorial teams in chilly January. How can we help people have the best summer ever in Honolulu? More outdoor concerts. Historic walking tours. Flat surf and less traffic on the North Shore, and 120 minutes more to play before sunset.
You’ll find our 53 ways to celebrate summer sprinkled throughout this issue, whether it’s donning pieces from a retro aloha shirt-inspired collection, pitching in to preserve decades of Hawai‘i music or trying new snacks and home-cooking kits from a local supermarket. And, if at any point you feel like throwing your arms into the air to declare “Best Summer Ever!” I won’t judge.
I may join you.
Five honolulumagazine.com stories to get your summer started right:
Got a good story? Reach me at christiy@honolulumagazine.com
Find all 50+ summer activities and events in the June issue of HONOLULU Magazine. Available on newsstands in June, or purchase the issue at shop.honolulumagazine.com. Subscribe to the print and digital editions now.
