<Begin Segment 8>

TI: Now do you recall any interesting or big events that came to Hilo when you were growing up? Like maybe a special visit or anything like that?

HH: We always had the circus come, which was yearly. I forget when it was, but then you would have everybody just going. You'd buy tickets and you'd go in.

TI: So tell me about the circus. What was that like?

HH: Oh, lots of Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and lots of food and lot of games where you can throw darts and stuff. But you have to pay, though.

TI: And then when you say circus, do they have things like, on the mainland, you know, so like the three ring circus where they have a tent and they have different acts going on?

HH: I think they had. Not that big, I think, but they had... what was the name of that circus?

TI: The Ringling Brothers was something on the mainland.

HH: They had, yeah, over here they had, I forgot what, but there was one that came yearly.

TI: And I'm guessing, because it was in Hilo, that people all around the island would come to the circus.

HH: Yeah, they would come.

TI: And so when you saw people, the farmers come in, could you tell the difference between people in Hilo and the surrounding areas, the farmers, when they came in?

HH: Oh, no.

TI: So they all seemed about the same?

HH: Yeah.

TI: Let's talk about the family now. So what, describe the house that you grew up in.

HH: I think... it was a small house, but basically it was segregated into about four bedrooms, and then you had the parents in one, the girls in one, and the boys in one.

TI: So that would be three bedrooms, so what would the fourth bedroom...

HH: Well, you got to spread out the girls. There were five girls.

TI: So the five girls shared two rooms.

HH: Two, yeah. But there's no door, there's just a division.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.