Photo courtesy County of Hawaiʻi

(BIVN) – The name Waiakahi‘ula has returned to a seaside park in Puna.

On Wednesday, July 3, community leaders and students celebrated the official name change of Kahakai Park in the Hawaiian Beaches subdivision to Waiakahi‘ula Beach Park.

Waiakahi‘ula means “the place where the water runs red”. It comes from the nature of the cascading streams along the area’s cliffs “that take on a reddish hue during the season of Ho‘oilo, Hawai‘i’s rainy season, which spans from November to April.”

From a Hawaiʻi County news release:

The County of Hawai‘i recently changed the park’s name from Kahakai Park to Waiakahi‘ula Beach Park to honor the original place name and the rich cultural history of the area. The park contains remnants of the ancient Hawaiian village of Waiakahi‘ula, including a well-preserved canoe shed, foundations of a house and various agricultural sites.

“Honoring the history of Waikahiʻula through a name change at this historic park is in line with our administration’s commitment to preserving the natural and cultural resources of this place we are so blessed to call home,” said Mayor Mitch Roth. “We cannot foster a sustainable Hawaiʻi Island where future generations can thrive without first ensuring that our culture – what makes Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi – is thriving.”

Photo courtesy County of Hawaiʻi

The event Wednesday featured a kipaepae ceremony led by Hawai‘i Community College I Ola Hāloa Center for Hawai‘i Lifestyles; speeches; a lu‘au-style lunch; and a ho‘ike, or demonstration of learning, by students from Pāhoa High School’s ʻAha Lamakū ʻOiaʻiʻo (ALO) program. During their summer program, the ALO students compiled historical information about Waiakahi‘ula, which the County of Hawai‘i Department of Parks & Recreation will use to create interpretive signage that describes the history of the area.

Photo courtesy County of Hawaiʻi

The initiative to change the park’s name began last year after two local educators who grew up in the Waiakahi‘ula area, Leah Gouker and No‘eau Woo-O‘Brien, discovered a 1974 survey that led them to the park’s archaeological features. In their efforts to enact the name change, they received support from the Department of Parks & Recreation, as well as County Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, who introduced a bill to change the park’s name. The Hawai‘i County Council passed the bill in March following testimony submitted by the ALO students.

“I wholeheartedly believe that the return of the name Waiakahiʻula will also trigger a return of Hawaiian identity and pride to this very space,” said Woo-O’Brien, an instructor at the Hawai‘i Community College I Ola Hāloa Center for Hawai‘i Lifestyles. “There has been a growing shift of consciousness and appreciation regarding things Hawaiian, and I believe this name change is an extension of that shift.”