- Utah's Pacific Islander Heritage Month begins this coming weekend with a kickoff event at West High.
- The month-long celebration includes cultural events, back-to-school supply donations, and more.
- A fashion show will honor designer Afa Ah Loo, showcasing Pacific Islander and Indigenous designs.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Pacific Islander community will be the focus of numerous events through August as part of Utah Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Heritage month activities in August are unique to Utah and stem from Gov. Gary Herbert's 2012 decree setting aside the month to spotlight the state's significant Pacific Islander population. Community members "wanted to share with our neighbors the differences and the similarities between Pacific Island communities," said Susi Feltch-Malohifoou, head of Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources, a nonprofit advocacy group for Pacific Islanders.
Some see the varied segments of the community as one in the same, she said, but that's an incorrect and incomplete picture. "There are some similarities, but there are some differences about us, and so I felt like you don't see us unless you know that about us, and it's our responsibility to educate," she said.
Activities start Friday, Aug. 1, with the Pacific Islander Skate Night at the Millcreek Common Skate Loop, 1354 E. Chambers Ave. in Millcreek, an event that goes from 6-10 p.m., featuring live music and more. But the formal launch event, the Utah Pacific Island Heritage Month Kick-Off, is set for Saturday, Aug. 2, from 5-10 p.m. at West High School in Salt Lake City. The theme of the varied events this year is "Navigating the Future Together — Rooted, Resilient and Rising."
Organizers have been seeking donations of back-to-school supplies, and they will be distributed at Saturday's event. Other activities Saturday include traditional entertainment representing Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, Rapu Nui, the Philippines and more as well as more than 100 food, craft and retail vendors.
Among the other events to mark the month will be a Pacific Island Chamber of Commerce luncheon to celebrate the winners of the annual Pacific Island Business Awards on Aug. 7. The events wrap up with Polynesian Days Utah from Aug. 28-Sept. 1 at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.
Along with representing the varied facets of Pacific Islander culture, Feltch-Malohifoou sees the heritage month events as a way to foment ties with "mainstream Utah."
Honoring a beloved community member
Creative Pacific is hosting a fashion show Friday that will honor the legacy of designer Afa Ah Loo, who was killed in a shooting at a No Kings protest in Salt Lake City last month. Almost a dozen designers used Ah Loo's sketches to create designs to honor Ah Loo, who was one of the founders of Creative Pacific.
Designer Mary Rino said she couldn't decide on just one sketch, so she created two designs for the fashion show. One uses a tapa cloth that Ah Loo had carried during a pride parade a week before his death, while the other design utilizes Ah Loo's classic aesthetic of big sleeves and big patterns.
"Afa was so much about community and bringing people together and creating a network and just helping each other out. So, to have that same feeling of community in doing (the show) in a way to honor Afa feels very cool; it feels very much like him — like something that he would do. It feels, in a way, that we are paying it forward to him and his legacy and his life," Rino said.
The fashion show will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Natural History Museum of Utah. In addition to the final tribute collection to Ah Loo, the event will showcase other Pacific Islander and Indigenous designers on the runway.
Contributing: Cassidy Wixom
Correction: An earlier version incorrectly said the Pacific Islander Skate Night in Millcreek is set for Thursday, July 30. It's actually happening Friday, Aug. 1.
