LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — May 1 is the first day of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
All month long, Channel 13 is highlighting different AAPI organizations, entrepreneurs and community leaders helping to make a difference.
Downtown Summerlin is kicking things off with a special celebration.
Local Polynesian and cultural organizations from Hawaii and Samoa, to Tonga and the Cook Islands and performing in Downtown Summerlin's Lei Day Parade.
"We have over 189 performers that are coming out with a variety of cultural dances all through the parade on Park Centre Drive," one attendee, Halee Harczynski said.
Among the performers is Kumu Kanani.
"We have a performance which is the traditional dancing and they'll be dancing using the hoy or the paddle," she said. "Then we're going to highlight using the cowboy attire and they're going to be doing a paniolo dance in honor of our cowboys in the islands."
Kanani says the festivities are part of an annual Hawaiian celebration.
She added, "It highlights a lot of our ancestors. May 1st is a day of celebration to give each other our lei, a garland of lei. You know, with the lei comes a garland of love."
Kanani moved to Las Vegas 27 years ago and says she loves to see more local festivities, as the valley's Pacific Islander community continues to grow.
"You know, my children were raised here in the valley and they still have the values of home," she said. "We are known as the Ninth Island, you know, Hawaii is always our home. And we have to stay close-knit. We have to, as an ohana, take care of each other."
