hawaii all-collectors show 2009

It seems to be a busy week/weekend for mid-July. There's loads of events going on in and around town. Here's to name a few: Hawaii All-Collectors Show 2009, the Love Festival, the 19th Annual Honolulu Gay Pride Festival (not the parade), Vintage Surf Auction, Showdown in Chinatown's local independent film short event, the 39th Annual Ukulele Festival, Pets On Parade, Tiffany (no, I take that back, she cancelled due to a throat problem), Hawaii Shakespeare Festival, Haleiwa Arts Festival, the 37th Annual Hawaii State Farm Fair, the 34th Annual Queen Lilioukalani Keiki Hula Competition, the sixth Harry Potter installation (two more to go, folks), the opening of the movie "Moon" by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie...no pressure, right? Really good movie! I highly recommend seeing this sci-fi thriller), the 3 day visit of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan and "Edge of The Reef" coral spawning presentation at the Waikiki Aquarium. Whew!

I opted to go to the Hawaii All-Collectors Show today and not be driven crazy by running from one event to another because it always turns out to be a nightmare and no fun. I've been looking forward to this show for a year now, as the last time I was at this show, I had the most enjoyable time browsing the booths for hours and couldn't believe all the fantastic "Hawaiiana" collectables. 

I have to say I was a little disappointed this time around. I expected to see more "Hawaiiana" booths and a lot more people. Of course, there were the few booths that did have some collectables, but not so much the unbelievable "find" that you just had to have, like the last time I was there. They had some nice collectable "hula dolls", a few pieces of jewelry and a lot of interesting and unusual cacti and succulents. Cacti? Yes, cacti! That was probably the most memorable booth in the whole show. I don't know what happened, but I spent about 3 hours going up and down 5 aisles. What did I buy? Nothing! And that's saying a lot, because if I can spend any amount of money at a collectables show, I WOULD!  I guess with the recession going on, prices were either too high or very low because it was just stuff, stuff you could find at any overcrowded, dusty consignment antique shop.    

The strangest part of the whole show was running into the Star Wars and Star Trek impersonators that were walking around the venue.  Yes, I know it was a collectors show, but they usually have conventions for this type of exhibition. The hula girls (right), impersonating Charlie's Angels were next door to the venue at the hula competition.

Well, guess I'll come back to the Wiki Wiki One Day Vintage Collectables & Hawaiiana Show" in the Fall. Hope all the vendors had luck selling their rare coins and stamps, watches and Waterford crystals, hot wheels and sports figurines, china arts and furniture, Tiffany jewelry and video games. I'm going down the street to "Kanpai Bar & Grill" and order me some fried chicken gizzards, kim chee edamame, a short rib "loco moco" and a pitcher of beer!