To The Sponsors and Prize Donors
A lot of people helped support the AstroDay fair through sponsorship and prize donations. It is through their charitable contributions that we were able to do the things that were necessary to reach the public, provide free tee shirts to the first hundred people to register and give out great prizes to lucky winners. This page is to acknowledge the unselfish generosity of these organizations, institutions, groups and individuals:
Hawaii County
The Hawaii County awarded the AstroDay Institute with a modest grant to develop tourism on Hawaii Island, and together with the University of Hawaii at Hilo Conference Center, hope to develop an "Ohana Learning Weekend" series of educational tour packages for the whole family
Hawaii Tourism Authority
The Hawaii Tourism Authority supported AstroDay through a grant from it and Hawaii County for the development of tourism in Hawaii. See above for more information about the program
Institute for Astronomy
The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy has sponsored the radio advertising, the cost of the commemorative AstroDay tee shirts that were distributed at no cost to all the exhibitors, volunteers, speakers and performers.
Subaru Telescope (NAOJ)
The National Astronomical Observatories of Japan (NAOJ), Subaru Telescope had funded the advertising campaign in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald newspaper publication. Subaru Telecope also donated several astronomical posters, post cards for prizes.
Mauna Kea Support Services (MKSS)
Ron Koehler, manager of MKSS had generously paid for some of the radio advertising. Ron also donated several items for prizes through the visitor center (see below).
Canada France Hawaii Telescope
Mahalos go out to Christian Veillet, Executive Director and Remi Cabanac, and the CFHT organization for not only paying for the food and drink supplied to the participants at and volunteers for the event, but also for donating choke (many, many) Hawaiian Starlight brand calendars to us to give away as prizes.
Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station (MKVIS)
The Visitor Information Station serves over 100,000 people during the year, offering its services for free through a crew of well informed, cheerful volunteers. They provide day summit tours, lecture series, cultural programs and star gazing sessions at the 9300 foot level facility on Mauna Kea. David Byrne of MKVIS had donated several items for prize give aways including ball caps and coffee mugs.
W.M. Keck Observatories
Laura Kraft and the W.M. Keck Observatories donated many cool prizes including several tee shirts, ball caps, and telescope models.
Smithsonian Sub-Millimeter Array (SMA)
The SMA may be the new kids on the block as far as observatories go, but in no way does that diminish from their commitment to "Bringing Astronomy To The People". Ant Schinckel has found a way to donate many great items for prize giveaways including several tee shirts, patches, and a bunch of cool Chandra Space Observatory calendars.
Creative Arts
If you want to talk about tee shirts, you want to talk to Randy Kurohara of Creative Arts. Creative Arts is a leader in screen printed tee shirts, caps and other merchandise here on the Big Island, and for good reason: quality is what they produce. Randy worked with us to provide a great commemorative tee shirt for our event at a great price.
Oceanic Time-Warner
AstroDay is proud to be powered by Oceanic Time-Warner. If you need great cable television service, Road Runner cable internet acces, then Oceanic Time-Warner is the solution. Forget about DSL or dial-up - get the best! Oceanic Time-Warner!
Leiahi Productions
Jessica Lindsey offers unique astronomy themed merchandise, and has supported AstroDay by donating prizes and supplying leis for our guest speakers.
Big Island Printers
Big Island Printers really backed up the AstroDay coordination with printing and artwork services. When we submitted the copy for the flyers, Myra did her magic on tweaking the logos to add better resolution. Ruth also gave our participants a special deal on their printing needs. And Howard is one class guy who provided flyer printing.
Hawaii Printing Corp
Hawaii Printing Corp is one of Hilo's oldest established printing establishments. And they didn't get that way without providing the best quality in printing services. Ed has donated a lot of services to a lot of functions and causes over the years. We are certainly honored to have been bestowed with his generosity.
Instant Sign Center
Jan Higashi gave us and AstroDay participants a great discount on the best vinyl banners in town. They were the first vinyl sign making business on the Big Island and the first Gerber Edge owners in the state of Hawaii, which enables them to offer four color process, airbrush effects, half tones, and much more. Jast and the guys down at Instant Sign Center do a great job in a short time.
Prince Kuhio Plaza
The Prince Kuhio Plaza is the Big Island's largest enclosed shopping mall, and is home to Hilo's finest retail and service establishments. Manager Carol Van Camp has supported our event by providing the stage and PA system for our speakers, tables and chairs for the many participants, signs within the mall and a banner for out roadside.
KTA Super Stores
What more can you say about Barry Taniguchi and the KTA chain of Super Stores? Barry and Debbie Fujimoto had really gone the extra mile to provide support for our event by supplying the bottled water and ice and giving us a great deal on the bento lunches, assorted fruits and chips.
Orion Telescopes
When we went looking for major corporations to donate merchandise for prizes, we immediately thought of Orion Telescopes and Binoculars. Without hesitation, Jennifer Celaya and Orion contributed a set of eyepiece filters for our prize give away.
Meade Telescopes
When you think of computerized Go-To telescope technology, you think of Meade Instruments. Scott Roberts and Meade was behind us all the way and donated an ETX90 telescope and computerized mount for our prize give away. Meade also donated several hundred catalogs of their entire line of fine products.
Waikoloa Beach Resort
Debbie Hogan from The Waikoloa Beach Resort generously offered a stay at their fine resort for our Excellence in Teaching award winner. What a great way to reward the hard work of our educators!
Hilo Hawaiian Hotel
Linda Nako has always supported AstroDay with gift certificates for our prizes and to accommodate our musical performers arriving from outer islands. When in Hilo, stay at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, Hilo's best full service hotel.
Palms Cliffhouse Inn
John and Michele Gamble run one of the nicest luxury bed and breakfasts on the Hamakua Coast. Experience the allure of old Hawaii at the Palms Cliffhouse Inn.
Hilo Coffee Mill
Kathy from Hilo Coffee Mill donated several 8 oz bags of great coffee to us for gifts and prizes at our event. For great coffee, go Hilo Coffee Mill: Paradise in Your Cup!
Roberts Hawaii
Mahalo to Casey Ballao who helped us provide free transportation to the people of West Hawaii to come and visit AstroDay
Big Island Toyota
Dave DeLuz, Jr of Big Island Toyota is a great guy. He supports AstroDay in many ways, including through the use of his showroom in Prince Kuhio Plaza for our very popular Kids Corner booth. For the best deals in town, go to Big Island Toyota!
Airgas Gaspro
Glen Kotomori of Airgas Gaspro in Hilo is the best. He cares for his customers and provides the best quality materials at the lowest prices. He also makes sure that our cryogenic demos are spectacular!
Mauna Loa Macnut
Bonnie Soares and Mauna Loa Macnuts have always supported AstroDay, with the very best gift baskets you can find!
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Marie Ella takes care of our advertising needs with the best prices and eye-catching copy! David Bock and Richard Palmer break our news for us. Hawaii Tribune-Herald is East Hawaii's voice!
Lanky's Pastry
Lanky's Pastry manager Kay provided 5 dozen onolicious donuts for our event. No better way to start the day than with some confectionary delights from Lanky's Pastry in the Hilo Shopping Center
Water Man
The best water in the world comes from Hawaii's Big Island. And the best of that water comes from Water Man. Kevin Abate always comes through with support for our event by providing bottled water for our exhibitors, performers, and volunteers.
Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center (MKAEC)
Many thanks to Marlene Hapai, Director for her charitable contribution toward radio advertising.
Borders Books
Borders Book store supported the AstroDay fair. Area marketing manager Les Honda is very interested in seeing to it that Borders Books is involved in community events and generously donated a couple of gift certificates for us to give away as prizes.
Basically Books
Likewise local bookstore and print shop owner David Reed wanted to be a part of our celebration as well. David made a contribution in the name of Basically Books and Old Town Printers by gift certificate.
Astronomy Magazine
When you want information about the celestial heavens, turn to Astronomy Magazine for help. When we needed help and information about putting on an AstroDay event, they sent us some brochures about "Getting Started in Astronomy" to pass out to the public. They listed out event in their web based calendar and also donated five - one year subscriptions to their magazine for prize giveaways. We were surprised when we received around 200 of their current magazine issue for distribution. Needless to say, they were scooped up by the public in no time
Sky and Telescope Magazine
A very informative magazine, the fine folks at SkyPublishing donated a great promotional packet that really helped us organize and coordinate our event. Anna Tanner sent us posters, a handbook, good neighbor outdoor lighting flyer and a hundred "How to Start Right in Astronomy" pamphlets. They also listed us in their web based calendar of events page.
AstroGraphics
AstroGraphics.com has cool astronomical books, calendars, gallery prints, multimedia, posters and tee shirts. Donna Charielle sent us some posters, tee shirts, calendars and catalogs to give away as prizes.
Astronomical League
The league's website provided a lot of information about organizing our Astroday event. They even publish a booklet about it. Jackie Beucher offered information about event insurance, Gary Tomlinson gave support and suggestions.
Harpers Car and Truck Rental
Wila and the good folks at Harpers donated several tee shirts for our prize giveaways.
Hawaii Naniloa Resort
Linda Nako donated a gift certificate for dinner at the Sandalwood Restaurant.
Big Island Radio Stations
We want to thank the local radio stations for working with us to get the word out about AstroDay for small kine coins (very little money).
DC (Darren Carlson) in the morning on B97 FM rocks! Thanks to DC, Dave Brennen and Ken Hupp (who just earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors at the University of Hawaii at Hilo) KPUA newsman extraordinaire for the opportunity for interviews and commercials on all their stations and live on-site remote broadcast.
KBIG FM in Hawaii provided commercial airtime on all their sister stations including KLEO, KKOA, KHLO and interview air time with Eddie O on KKBG. Many thanks to Randy Ray and Russ Roberts for their help.
KHNL News 8
Much mahalo to Diane Ako at Hawaii's best Television News: KHNL! She and the station has supported AstroDay from the very beginning and has broadcast highlights from our event each and every year when no one else would even touch us. Thank you Diane, and we hope to see you at AstroDay sometime soon!
Chizuko and Kaipo Fujihara
My wife and son for supporting me and putting up with "Mr. AstroDay"
Kerry Darris of O'okala, Grand Prize Winner of the Meade telescope
Austin Berner of Mt View, winner of the second prize Orion telescope
