(BIVN) – American Idol winner William “Iam” Tongi paid a visit to Kings’ Shops in Waikoloa on Wednesday, surprising the staff and owners of the Original Big Island Shave Ice Company with a stop at their store.
Tongi, originally from Kahuku on Oaʻhu, won season 21 of the nationally televised American Idol show, becoming the first person from Hawaiʻi to win the competition.
The Big Island Shave Ice Company visit by Tongi and his mother Lillie was said to be a surprise, arranged by family friend Jimmy Tuifua, according to shop owners Reggie and Kim Ignacio, and their son Kayah, who manages the store.
While he was there, Iam took time to “pose with excited customers and employees.”
“Everyone was thrilled to see in person the celebrity” who Kim called a “gentle giant, humble, sincere, and full of aloha.”
