Historians To Hear About ‘Kids’ Play’

Kailua Historical Society invites residents to sit down from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday and harken back to the old days – before electronic gadgets and programmed activities could suck up that precious small-kid time.

The group’s annual meeting at Faith Baptist Church will offer a panel on “Kids’ Play: Before the Rec and the Y” with four area elders who should know all about it: Howard Okita, Jane Lipp, Doryne Decker Ringler and Jiro Tanabe.

They will share how kids amused themselves before Kailua District Park (“The Rec”) and Windward YMCA came to be, said KHS president Paul Brennan. “It will focus on the community-based recreational activities that children growing up in Kailua could participate in during the ’20s and ’30s,” he said. “Sandlots for baseball and volleyball, for example, were for the most part temporary and without much adult organization.”

Were there options besides the “Master” tag game? Any club sports or league play? All will be revealed in the interest of history. Following that, state Rep. Cynthia Thielen will install the new KHS officers. The church is located at 1230 Kailua Road – right next to the YMCA with its bright new playground structure. Call 262-7316.