Black and White Night, Friday November 4, 2011. 5pm-10pm in Downtown Hilo. Come by the Mo’oheau Bandstand to get your Treasure Hunt Map and entertainment line-up. Dress up or Dress down, but DRESS IN BLACK & WHITE!
And if you have been, you know what we’re talking about: free live music, art openings, author signings, free refreshments, and lots of friendly merchants open late and putting on their best from Kamehameha Avenue to Kapiolani Street and from Ponahawai Street to Wailuku Drive.??”People ask where they should get started or where everything starts and we tell them ‘Just find a good place to park in the Downtown area and walk around. You’ll find some friendly store open and most likely they’ve got a map and schedule of events to get you in touch with all the happenings.’ Or we tell them to check our website about a week before the event to see details,” said Hilo Downtown Improvement Association executive director Alice Moon.??This year Black & White Night “goes green” with the kick off of the “Think Local, Buy Local” campaign being coordinated by the Hawaii Alliance for a Local Economy (HALE). The campaign is designed to encourage consumers to purchase more locally made and grown products, and to support locally owned businesses and Downtown is about as home-grown as you can get for a town this size. For the event (and eventually in other communities around the island) HALE will help promote these businesses through traditional, electronic and social media through the end of the year at no charge to the business. HALE window posters and point of sales displays will identify those that qualify and a special Black & White Night commemorative button will offer consumers discounts through the end of the year. Buttons will be available for sale for $5 at least one week prior to the event at the Hilo Information Center located at the Mooheau Bus Depot and support the event as well as HALE’s initiative.
When you purchase a Black & White Night button you’ll get the discounts at participating businesses, you’ll be a grassroots sponsor of Downtown Hilo’s best party and you’ll get five “free” stamps on the Treasure Hunt Map. On that night, get the map stamped from any 25 businesses shown on the map (including six required locations), bring it to Grand Central Station (location TBA, stay tuned!) before 9 p.m. to enter lucky drawings. Thousands of dollars worth of products and gift certificates will be given away and you must be present to win.
When deciding if you should go to Black & White or not, take getting wet in the rain off of your list of reasons to stay home – there are so many covered sidewalks in Downtown Hilo you can stay pretty dry, IF it rains that is. And there are so many great events, you may find yourself hanging out in one spot for the night, so no worries about the weather. But you really want to stroll all over town if just to get your Treasure Hunt Map stamped and enter to win some of the thousands of dollars worth of prizes donated by participating businesses. Plus you’ll discover all sorts of wonderful things in Downtown Hilo in shops all decked out for the night. Just be sure to wear something black and/or white and if you want to win cash prizes in the “Best Dressed Contest” then put on your tuxedos and ball gowns. The Contest takes place at 7:30 p.m. at Grand Central Station and includes three categories: Youth (infant – 17); Adult (18 and over); and Couple or Group (all ages).??”Once a year Downtown Hilo lights up and stays up late just in time for holiday shopping! And all the shops, restaurants, non-profits, and services involved give away lots of food, drinks, goodies, and offer specials, sales that night so it really is the best time to walk the ‘buy local’ walk, enjoy some of the finest music on the island, see people having a great time, and to have a great time yourself,” said Moon. “Why not join the party?”??Black & White Night is presented by the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association with support from the County of Hawaii Department of Research & Development Hawaii Tourism Authority grant and from sponsors including Ke Ola magazine, Cafe Pesto, Big Island Weekly, KWXX and B93/B97 FM radio stations, and many others. For more information or to request an auxiliary aid or reasonable accommodation, contact the DIA at 935-8850 or email askalice@downtownhilo.com.
