Terrific PCC salesman never on the payroll
Laie Inn manager Craig Huish played a key role in promoting the Polynesian Cultural Center for 12 years.
Laie Inn manager Craig Huish played a key role in promoting the Polynesian Cultural Center for 12 years.
The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame inducts its Class of 2026 at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
From the Ensign Magazine, July 1994, then president of BYU–Hawaii. He previously served as superintendent at the Church College of New Zealand and then oversaw hiring of Church Educational System faculty and staff for South Pacific schools for a number of years. In August 1994 he became the BYU (Provo) Student Life Vice President, and is now retired.)
Mike (Mikaele) Foley shares several stories of how his retail team once almost burned down a PCC gift shop in the 1990s, and another when his stage crew almost blew up the Hale Aloha in the late 1960s. What? Click on the picture to keep reading.
Soon after the Center opened in 1963, the Church built a modest 49-room hotel practically in the parking lot. Along with a restaurant and service station, it served thousands of guests and local residents until it was demolished in 2010 (to make way for a 220-room replacement that opened in 2015)
Aunty Dora, who was still dancing hula in her 80s, started learn from kumu Kela Millerʻs great-grandmother as a girl in Laie.
Earl Cropper’s life reflects a deep connection to Hawaiʻi, education, and service. After serving a mission in Hawaiʻi (1962–64), he enrolled at Church College of Hawaii and worked in the early days of the Polynesian Cultural Center. A former student body president, Earl built a career and family in Utah while giving back generously through the Matthew Cowley Society, believing education transforms families, communities, and future generations.
In the early 1960s, while serving in the Sāmoa Apia Mission, Elder Ron Haymore helped fulfill a unique request from the Polynesian Cultural Center—to acquire authentic ‘afa, the coconut fiber cordage traditionally used to lash wooden structures. Under Mission President John Phillip Hanks’ direction, Elder Haymore traveled across Upolu with local matai, visiting villages and gathering coils of ‘afa. His small but meaningful effort became part of the PCC’s early construction legacy, connecting craftsmanship and culture across the Pacific.
Over 200 former members of the Polynesian Cultural Center’s hālau hula, Hui Ho‘oulu Aloha, gathered in Laie on August 16, 2025, for a heartfelt reunion celebrating over 40 years of hula legacy. Founded in the early 1980s under kumu hula Cy Bridges, Keith Awai, Enoka Kaina, and “Uncle Bill” Wallace III, the group once competed at Merrie Monarch and other festivals. The reunion, filled with song, stories, and impromptu hula, honored past members and rekindled cherished bonds.