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Tiki Central / California Events

Tonga Hut Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade Float 2014! WE WON AGAIN!

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T
tobunga posted on 11/09/2014

Aloha everybody!

Tonga Hut won "BEST SMALL RIG" in Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade 2014!

BIG MAHALOS to everybody who helped out!

Now how are we going to top ourselves? What other categories can we win?

This year the parade is on Saturday, December 6th, starting at 5:54pm.
Here's a link to the parade website:
http://psfestivaloflights.com

We have a preparatory meeting set for 7:30pm on Wednesday, November 12th at Tonga Hut North Hollywood. We’ll discuss our plan of attack, the new designs, and what sort of tasks that will have to be tackled.

Our first building party is scheduled for that following Saturday, the 15th, at a location yet to be determined.

We’re re-using elements from the previous float, and we learned a lot from the last build, so we’re already ahead of the game for this year.

Last year was so much fun, and our unexpected win was a a nice capper to the experience… This year should be just as much fun!

Check back here for updates on times and locations for building parties.

Here is a preliminary drawing showing the new elements: More illuminated tikis, a soaring A-frame and lots of tiki lamps!



http://ericoctober.com

[ Edited by: tobunga 2014-11-12 17:17 ]

[ Edited by: tobunga 2014-11-22 10:38 ]

[ Edited by: tobunga 2015-05-20 23:56 ]

D
danlovestikis posted on 11/11/2014

Your drawing is another work of art. Wendy

T
tobunga posted on 11/13/2014

I've updated the drawing with more accurate depiction of some of the elements, including the lettering on the sign, "Mele Kalikimaka from Tonga Hut"

I'll be bringing the drawing and a prototype of the tiki lamps we'll be building to the meeting tonight!

T
tobunga posted on 11/13/2014

Aloha everybody!

Tonight's meeting was a great kick off for what's in store! We hammered out some details, and we have a designated building party location!

I had a chance to create a prototype of one of the new elements for the float, a tiki lamp.
Here's a photo:

We will be focusing on creating these at this weekend's building parties.

If you're interested in lending a hand, PM me here for the address for this weekend! First building party is on Saturday the 15th, starting at noon.

And a big Mahalo to everyone who came out to the meeting tonight!

See you all on Saturday!

T
tobunga posted on 11/16/2014

Aloha everybody!

Just wanted to update everyone with what we accomplished today...

We started out testing all the pieces from last year's float, to make sure all the lights still worked... we only had to replace two bulbs!

And then we moved on to the new elements... the focus today was the the tiki lamps that will be suspended over the center of this year's float.
Here are photos of us tracing out the pieces, cutting them, and painting them up!









The last photo shows the lamp sides painted and waiting to be assembled, which was when Manuel and I had to hit the road... can't wait to see how they all came out, but they looked pretty good so far!

OH! No building party tomorrow... the next party will be next Saturday, the 22nd... see you then if you can swing it!

Mahalos for lookin'!
Yer pal,
Eric October



http://ericoctober.com

[ Edited by: tobunga 2014-11-15 23:01 ]

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Kilaueakyd posted on 11/21/2014

Spectacular!

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bigtikidude posted on 11/22/2014

what is the date for the parade?

thanks
Jeff(btd)

T
tobunga posted on 11/22/2014

Hey Jeff!
Thanks for asking... I just put the info in the opening post, here it is again:

The parade is on Saturday, December 6th, starts at 5:45pm.

Here's a link to the parade website:
http://psfestivaloflights.com



http://ericoctober.com

[ Edited by: tobunga 2014-11-22 10:38 ]

T
tobunga posted on 11/22/2014

We're meeting again today at noon to begin work on the A-frame and tikis!

PM for directions!

Mahalos!
Eric

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JasonLeeSurf posted on 11/22/2014

This is gonna be awesome !

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bigtikidude posted on 11/23/2014

Thanks Eric.

Jeff(btd)

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MadDogMike posted on 11/24/2014

Very cool Eric. I had missed this thread

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JasonLeeSurf posted on 11/28/2014

Please pass around

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bigtikidude posted on 11/28/2014

planning on it

T
tobunga posted on 12/03/2014

This Saturday is the big day!

Here are some more photos of the build!
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Hope to see everyone in Palm Springs!

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heylownine posted on 12/05/2014

Since I won't get to see it in person in Palm Springs, I'm looking forward to some action shots from the parade...have fun out there!

Kevin

T
tobunga posted on 05/21/2015

Just realized these never got posted... my computer crapped out and in the mishigas of replacing it and having the replacement crap out too, I lost track of these photos.

You may have seen images of the float by now, but here they are...

At the staging area. Manuel is working on the volcano, Rob is trying to figure out how to conjure up wheel well covers out of thin air. Fortunately, he succeeded, since parade rules required covered wheels.
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This is me moments before I climbed down the ladder and tore a big hole in the seat of my pants. Did I say big? I meant to say stupidly enormous, from just below my butt almost to the waistband. And I realized that I forgot to bring the pants I was planning to wear in the evening. Good thing I'm handy with a needle & thread.
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GIna and Christine stringing lights on the masks Andrew graciously let us borrow.
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The float in all it's glory.
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Jason Lee! It got really windy that night. You can see the lamps swinging around in this pic.
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New Tiki, crazy wind-blown frond background!
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The moon in the background!

Thanks fer lookin'!
Yer pal.
Eric October



http://ericoctober.com

[ Edited by: tobunga 2015-05-20 23:53 ]

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heylownine posted on 05/26/2015

Very cool, and congratulations to the float team on the win.

Kevin

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MadDogMike posted on 05/26/2015

ROCK ON!!! Congrats :)

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cy posted on 05/26/2015

Great work on the float tobunga, the lamps my be swaying in the wind but Jason Lee's hair looks solid.

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hiltiki posted on 05/26/2015

Congratulations, nice job.

Pages: 1 20 replies