Page 24 - MidWeek - Nov 10, 2021

24 MIDWEEK NOVEMBER 10, 2021
Gangloff Building Bigger, Better Light Show In 2021
FROM PAGE 17
could be any more negative and that’s understandable with everything going on in the world.
An aerial view of last year’s light show at Aloha Stadium, where 45,000 cars came during the event’s six-week run. PHOTO COURTESY MICHAEL GANGLOFF
“To me, the only way we can come back from this and be better and stronger is if we work together and put aside our petty differences.”
When he conceived the idea for last year’s show, Gangloff was unsure how he would turn his vision of a drive-thru spectacle replete with millions of lights into a reality.
But like a real-life Ray Kinsella, he knew that if he built it, people would come.
ecstatic because that would give the kids four solid weeks to enjoy the rides,” he says.
Wright Homes, Kūhiō Park Terrace and several other economically challenged communities. The deliveries will take place on the second day of the show, Nov. 20.
And come they did — in droves. Last year, the show drew 45,000 cars during its six-week run. This year, he’s hoping to attract 80,000 vehi- cles to an event that promises to be “twice as big.”
Finally, this year’s festiv- ities will include a random drawing worth $200,000 in prizes. Those who purchase tickets to the light show will be automatically entered in the drawing, with the grand- prize winner walking off with $50,000.
“I didn’t want these fam- ilies to have to wait in some line for hours just to get a $35 turkey, so I thought if I took it to them, we wouldn’t have to worry about people not getting one if they got there late,” he says. “The turkey delivery isn’t necessarily a part of the light show, but it’s a part of the different facets of my Show Aloha Challenge foundation.”
In explaining some of the improvements planned for the upcoming show, he notes that last year’s two 150-foot- long drive-thru tunnels will be twice as long in 2021. Ad- ditionally, the festive show- case will include a Santa’s photo shop for keiki, far more motifs and triple the number of Christmas trees (40 last year, 120 this year), he says.
According to Gangloff, the beauty of his show is that while it certainly lifts people’s spirits with holiday cheer, it also delivers pro- ceeds to several local char- ities, namely Make-A-Wish Hawai‘i, Kūpuna Power and Shriner’s Hospital for Chil- dren. Even his own founda- tion, Show Aloha Challenge, is a beneficiary of the annual light show, and uses funds raised to feed the hungry and create education hubs outfitted with computers for Hawai‘i’s seniors.
Michael Gangloff and son Xavier find a moment to bask in the lights of the walking tunnel, which will again be a featured attraction at Show Aloha Winter Wonderland, slated for Nov. 19-Jan. 1. PHOTO COURTESY ARYN NAKAOKA
Even the food court area has been expanded and will feature well-known vendors such as J. Dolan’s, Dippin’ Dots and Ket- tle Corn Hawai‘i.
o one would ever have blamed Gangl- off if he had chosen
Despite his poverty-strick- en circumstances, Gangloff learned the value of hard work early on, and credits the example set by his stepfather.
And if all goes well, keiki attendees will be able to catch train rides during the show, even though current supply chain blockages are threaten- ing to derail plans of adding two locomotives to the event.
As another expression of his love for serving others, Gangloff and volunteers are scheduled to deliver approx- imately 2,900 turkeys — which he purchased for $35 each — to families in Mayor
Born in Creve Coeur, Missouri, he and his family moved to the islands when he was 4. His biological father was not a part of his life, so parenting responsibilities fell to his mother, Judy, and step- father Paul Moniz.
“He worked his ass off to support us. I mean he had four jobs and would get there on a moped — it was ridic- ulous,” recalls Gangloff, the youngest boy in a family of three half-brothers and one half-sister.
Soon, he set his sights on bigger money-making ven- tures. By hanging out at Ho- nolulu International Airport in the ’ 80s, for example, he found he could make 25 cents for each passenger baggage cart he returned.
“We all know there are shipping delays out there, but if I could somehow get the trains in by Dec. 6, I would be
The family was financially strapped and survived most-
“But he’s the reason I work my ass off because he’s the
refuse down the stairs.
With a few coins in his pocket, Gangloff would then wait for the manapua wagon
“I would follow the pas- sengers after they checked in, and because they couldn’t
N
the path of negativity in his youth. Certainly, there were ample reasons for him to have done so.
ly on government-assistance programs and whatever mon- ey Moniz would bring in from working multiple jobs.
one I watched all my life.” Gangloff was about 7 when he decided to start earning some money. At the time, the family was living in a low-income apartment complex in Waipahu, so he cooked up the idea of go- ing door to door and asking residents if they would give him a penny for each bag of trash he hauled away. Many tenants gladly took him up on his offer rather than drag their
“I could get two bubble gums for 1 cent. And if I had 5 cents, I could get one soda, or I could buy two (Charms) Blow Pops,” he says, chuck- ling at the memory.
to roll by.
SEE PAGE 25