Stay Tuned for 2025 Spooktacular!

2024:

Over 650 volunteer hours were tracked in making this event happen. This is not to mention the tens of hours that nearly 100 students spent in preparation for their performances during club and elective hours. Or the dedication of ASC and HAAS staff behind the scenes. Seriously, everyone - THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

Even with all of that volunteer support, much more financial resources go OUT than come IN to make these events accessible. Infinite gratitude to the ASC President & Founder, Gail Clarke and HAAS Director & Founder Steve Hirakami for their unwavering support of our community and their commitment to prioritizing programs and events that benefit our keiki and their families as well as our wider Puna residents. Their dedication to sourcing funds, managing available resources, and passion for providing outlets for creativity and education is a gigantic blessing in our underserved community.

2023:

Mahalo for everyone who came out to Spooktacular! on Saturday making it into the super sweet event that it was. We are grateful the rain let off and the skies opened up for a beautifully dry event despite the last minute adjustments required due to the ground saturation in our field!!

Pua and her team of HAAS parent, student and staff volunteers brought fun, creativity, education, and reverence to the event; setting the overall tone with their outstanding Dia de los Muertos-themed Keiki Land and offrenda.

Larry showed up yet again with the raddest art installations and carnival games! Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education brought it with their incredibly engaging circus tent! And a seriously delicious and creative crew of vendors came out to add all da right flavors to Spook.

Drew Daniels, Maple Flo and Da Goats, HAAStile, Kanikapila, and Miss O's performers provided an absolute delightful and talented musical backdrop all day long!

Fishing with Uncle Eric and the HAAS’ Outdoor Education Program was a major hit yet again this year. Every single person caught at least one fish

In addition to the notoriously featured Haunted Trail, HAAS Drama Club - the backbone of Spooktacular - put together an extremely impressive "Black Box Theater" featuring spooky monologues. (We regret them not having much visibility during the event, so look out for an upcoming special feature event to showcase all their hard work!)

Wow! What a remarkable feat that was just accomplished this past weekend and what an exciting turnout we had for Spooktacular! It is really a wonder to witness what can be created when community members pull together with their best foot forward.

HAAS Drama Club Keiki and a handful of adult volunteers worked tirelessly for weeks to make what could have been just another neat carnival into a completely unique and engaging work of art. The depth and dimension that was added to the event with the Fairy Trail, Spooky Stories and of course Zombie Run was truly inspiring. Thank you endlessly Glenn, Holly, Pua, Christina, Bjorn; Coni, Jane, Salomé, Doris, Mary, Heather, Dwayne, Arminda, Kate, Renata, Kristen & Maurizio for your valued support!

HAAS Staff pulled together seamlessly to provide the backbone for the event’s preparation, maintenance, and breakdown. Huge mahalos to Steve for his unwavering support. To the maintenance DREAM team, Lloyd, Deighton, Nate, Zack, Dave, Aaren and Casey. And to Eric & crew for managing the wildly popular fishing feature and Andy for selling Lilipops and ASC merch like a madman! Mahalo, Ale’a for your healthcare and final push support!! Thank you to the Middle and High School Student Leadership teams led by Aleena Kimi and Jada for your creativity and enthusiasm in collaboration with design elements!

ASC Staff and Board Members were integral in making it all possible. Gail, Jillian, Kalama, Taliesin, Patty: Thank you! And thanks to Pahoa's Police Department for holding down a stabilizing presence!

Thanks to special companies like Big Island Booch Kombucha and M&M Designs for the goods they donated to this fundraiser. And to our wider community volunteers like Galen, Morgan, Celeste and Karen from Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education (SPACE), we are so very fortunate to be able to collaborate with you!

Thank you to all of our talented musicians and vendors who helped create the vibe in the carnival. To Ms. O's brilliant flash mob, Kumu Hua with Kanikapila, and Trever with HAAStile, you guys rock!! And Dan Madsen for setting the tone of the event thru his graphic design. And an outstanding special thanks to Larry Bradfield for designing and directing all of those super incredible Carnival Games! And to all those seen and unseen who invested their valuable energy but may have been overlooked in this post, thank you!

Last but not least, a standing ovation to McLean for pulling all of the pieces of the puzzle together and building a highly functional bridge between HAAS and ASC for special community events like these!

MAHALO