While most states celebrate one day of Halloween, there was a year that Hawaii had not one, but two Halloweens.
Today, during morning drive, KSSK Radio’s Michael W. Perry recounted that fateful day some 33 years ago in 1978 when then Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi cancelled Halloween.
It was all because of a trick of nature.
A massive storm caused major flooding throughout the island, and Fasi said he didn’t want children to be out getting treats during a dangerous situation.
Fasi called up KSSK Radio to make the announcement. Perry was working during the afternoon drive time.
As Perry recalls, then Gov. George Ariyoshi was surprised by Fasi’s decision, and got into a public dispute over the matter.
“The governor’s people called and said ‘you can’t do that.'”
Ariyoshi didn’t want trick-or-treating canceled, but few people ventured out in to the rain anyway, because as Perry said the problem took care of itself because it was raining “cats and dogs.”
The next day, November 1, Ed Hirata, who was one of the mayor’s appointees, called KSSKÂ to announce “Halloween is tonight.”
Most children took advantage of the second chance and trick-or-treated at the start of November.
Today, Perry played Hirata’s announcement and shared the story with his thousands of listeners.