Regatta Day

Part of a Regatta Day notice published in the 15 September 1896 issue of The Pacific Commercial Advertiser.

In June 1896, the Hawai‘i Legislature addressed the issue of the observation of a new holiday. At the time, six days were recognized as official holidays: 1 January, 17 January, 11 June, 4 July, 28 November, and 25 December.

Representative A.G.M. Robertson introduced a bill to replace the 28 November holiday that marked the 1843 British and French treaty that recognized the independence of Hawai‘i.

While the bill was being considered, Representative Robertson spoke in favor of establishing a new holiday in September:

There is considerable local feeling in favor of a holiday at a time of the year suitable for aquatic sports, and believing that it is legitimate and proper for a Government to encourage healthful exercise and manly sport among its people, we cordially support the idea. There are certainly no sports better adapted to our climate or more worthy of encouragement than yachting and rowing. A day in September would not only be suitable for a regatta day, but would more equally divide the period between the 4th of July and Christmas. (“A Question of More Holidays.” The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 9 June 1896.)

A.G.M. Robertson (The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 21 September 1896)

Representative Robertson also happened to be the president of the Myrtle Boat Club, so there was more than just a little bit of self-interest involved.

On 12 June, both the Senate and the House passed the bill and it became law.

The first Regatta Day was celebrated on 19 September 1896. The associated competitions, which took place in Honolulu Harbor, consisted of the following: yacht races (two classes of boats), four-oared shell race, tub race, swimming race, steamer boat race, six-paddle canoe race, four-oared sliding seat barge race, tug of war, six-oared sliding seat barge race, diving contest, canoe sailing race, five-oared whale boat race, ten-oared whale boat race, and two-oared shore boat race.

The events were open to all and there was no entry fee. The winners in each category received monetary prizes donated by local businesses.

The day was considered a success with only a few complaints.

Saturday’s successful celebration has stamped the day with public approval and the new holiday may be considered firmly established in the national affection. Little or no business was done in the city and the greater part of the population flocked to the waterfront and made a day of it. Pacific Mail wharf was crowded to its utmost all day and the hundreds of chairs provided there were filled long before the races began, while Professor Berger and the [Royal Hawaiian] band kept things lively all day. Hundreds of other sightseers availed themselves of the courtesy of Captain Brown and obtained a splendid view of the races from the commodious deck of the steamer Aztec, while at the other end of the wharf the tug Eleu was crowded with humanity. The Kinau and other wharves were also crowded all day. (“A Successful Regatta.” The Evening Bulletin, 21 September 1896)

Honolulu Harbor. Hawai‘i State Archives Call No. PP-5-8-021

In 1907, Regatta Day was still popular with the public, but things change:

…the harbor was the scene and center of the day’s events and of the thousands who made up the crowds that really made Regatta Day. Since the early Regatta Days the whole system of wharves, and arrangement and configuration of the harbor, have been changed. The principal wharves for the merchant marine are now far over on the Ewa side of the harbor. Very little shipping now lies at the wharves on the water side of the Esplanade which was formerly the center of the shipping. For this reason, as well as for the reason that the sailing vessel has been largely supplanted by the big steamship, there was not, to the same extent as in earlier years, the picturesque setting of ships decked out in colors—bunting flying from every mast and yard. The vessels in the harbor were very generally dressed for the occasion but there were not as many of them as those who remember the Regatta Days of eight or nine years ago will recall in their mental pictures of those holidays of the past. And the vessels in port yesterday, with the exception of one or two, were not in a position to add their color or their lines to the picturesqueness of the setting. (“Regatta Day Makes Sea Front Brilliant With Life and Color.” Sunday Advertiser, 22 September 1907)

Headline and photograph from front page of the Sunday Advertiser, 22 September 1907.

By 1917, public interest in Regatta Day events had waned somewhat. Although various forms of the competitions eventually spread to Waikīkī and other locations, they were no longer the grand spectacles of days past.

Regatta Day remained a holiday until May 1949, when it was abolished by the Legislature and was replaced by Prince Kūhiō Day (26 March).