By the time you receive our PCC February eNewsletter, our new Hukilau Marketplace should be ready for its grand opening, now tentatively set for February 20.

Of course, we’ll cover that event for you; but meanwhile, here is a recent aerial photo of construction progress on both the marketplace

…as well as the new Laie Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, which is scheduled to open in mid-summer 2015 (photos by senior volunteer Jack Baxter):

…with the PCC’s Samoan Village on the left, the site of the new Laie McDonald’s in the upper center, and Laie Point on the upper right..

Story by Mike Foley

Mike Foley, who has worked off-and-on

at the Polynesian Cultural Center since

1968,  has been a full-time freelance

writer and digital media specialist since

2002, and had a long career in marketing

communications and PR before that. He

learned to speak fluent Samoan as a

Mormon missionary before moving to Laie

in 1967 — still does, and he has traveled

extensively over the years throughout

Polynesia and other Pacific islands. Foley

is mostly retired now, but continues to

contribute to various PCC and other media.