Iolani Palace docent educator Zita Cup Choy is happy to say the nation’s only palace is open to visitors again.
"Its wonderful, its wonderful any day that we are open and able to share the palace with our visitors from Hawaii and around the world," she says.
Palace gates were unlocked at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and the doors opened to tours at 9am
"We apologized for anyone that we inconvenienced but the safety of the palace and the safety of the property and the grounds were of utmost importance to us," said State Department of Natural Resources Director William Aila.
Early last week protestors with the Hawaiian Kingdom were arrested by sheriffs after camping on palace grounds and refusing to leave, members of the same group also returned Tuesday.
"Ah..its, we are back home, we are back here because this is the seat of government and nobody is going to stop us from coming in here and continuing to do what we are doing," said Mahealani Kahanao of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government.
Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom have posted themselves on property for the past three years and say they will continue to protest on the grounds of Iolani Palace every weekday.
"APEC, this has nothing to do with APEC this has to do with the Hawaiian Kingdom government," Kahanao says.
Palace officials say they lost about $42,000 in revenue during the closure, they usually average 300 to 400 guests a day. Some visitors were disappointed the palace had been shutdown.
"Yeah we were hoping to come to the palace last week and then we heard about the protest and that it was shutdown," said Kelly Kugler, who is visiting from Minnesota.
Now that its open crews at Iolani Palace are busy preparing for a busy couple of days.
Wednesday major festivities will take place to honor King David Kalakaua’s birthday.
"Around noon with the review of the Royal Guard coming up is the Royal Ball on Saturday," said collections manager Michael Juen.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
