A couple weeks ago, about a hundred people turned up for a mile-long walk through the beautifully landscaped Panaewa Rainforest Zoo. It was part of the national WalkAmerica event, and the first time the March of Dimes event was held in Hilo.

It’s just the kind of event we like donating our product to. It raises money for a good cause while also encouraging people to get outside for some physical activity.

The band No Etiquette played. A breakfast was available—bentos from Blane’s Drive-In, juice from Meadow Gold, and our Hamakua Springs bananas. And Terry the Tiger was there. That’s a guy in a giant white tiger costume (the Panaewa Zoo is, of course, home to the white tiger Namaste).

It turned out that everybody who participated in the walk took home a door prize. There were gift certificates from places like Hilo Bay Café, the Palace Theatre, Seaside Restaurant; $50 worth of tickets from Cold Stone Creamery; boxes of posters from Hot Topic, gift baskets of hair products from Regis Salon, and a lot more.

And if that wasn’t interesting enough, a couple goats from the petting zoo joined the party and they did the walk, too. Although they didn’t get out and gather as many pledges as some of the people did. While one gentleman raised more than $1000 (which won him a weekend stay at the Hilton Waikoloa), the goats only brought in $5.

Our congratulations to everybody who walked for the March of Dimes. We hope to see you there again next year. — posted by Leslie Lang