(BIVN) – The 4th annual Sakada Day Celebration will be hosted by Pepeʻekeo town on December 16. The event will “honor, showcase, and commemorate the legacy of 125,000 sugar and pineapple plantation workers (sakadas) recruited from the Philippines between 1906-1946 by the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters Association,” according to a recent Hawaiʻi County Council resolution.

Councilmembers voted on October 12 to provide contingency relief funds to the Hilo-Hāmākua Community Development Corporation in order to help support the event. A number of testifiers spoke from the Hilo council chamber in support of the Sakada Day Celebration.

In 2015, Governor David Ige signed into law HB604, dedicating December 20th as Sakada Day, state-wide.

This year’s event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kulaʻimano Community Center, according to the Hawaiʻi Filipino Chronicle. The theme of the celebration is “Connecting Our Past to Shape the Future.”