Award honors Hawaiian couple for sharing music of the islands

Southwest valley residents and Hawaiian transplants Gary and Sheldeen Haleamau were surprised when they learned they had been nominated and ultimately won the annual Nevada Heritage Award.

“We were like, ‘What? Really?,’ ” said Gary Haleamau.

His confusion may have originated from the name of the award. Most people would associate Nevada heritage with cowboys, American Indians, miners and early settlers on their way to the California Gold Rush, not Hawaiian paniolo cowboy music, slack-key guitar and hula dancing.

Patricia Atkinson, folklife program coordinator for the Nevada Arts Council, explained that each year, the program honors Nevada residents who carry on the folk traditions and arts of their families and communities by practice and teaching others.

“These awards are given to individuals for their lifelong record of artistic excellence, authenticity and significance,” said Atkinson. “They are our living cultural treasures.”

In 1999, after a total renovation of their Hawaiian mountain log cabin home, the couple were asked by the pastors of their church to help start a new ministry in Las Vegas, Thy Word Ministries International Faith, 9175 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

“We sold everything,” said Sheldeen.

“We had about a 4-by-6-foot space in the back of a shipping container stuffed with one bed, a dresser and a bunch of boxes of clothes and toys (for their 3-year-old son). That was it,” said Gary.

The couple took a leap of faith and arrived in Las Vegas without jobs or prospects.

“We had some money set aside for about three months, and we rented an apartment, then I started working at Delta Air Lines for $6.90 an hour — throwing bags,” said Gary, now the director of exhibits for capital projects at the Discovery Children’s Museum, 360 Promenade Place.

Las Vegas was a huge cultural change for the Hawaiian family. Comparing Hawaii to Las Vegas is “like (wearing) an aloha shirt versus a suit,” said Sheldeen, a night auditor at The Venetian, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

The Haleamaus preserve a sense of the Hawaiian family way of life by sharing their music, dance and cultural history at retirement homes, museums, schools, churches and festivals throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

The family band, which now includes their three sons, ages 18, 13, and 6, recently performed during the Islands of the Pacific Cultural Fest at the Cannery, 2121 E. Craig Road. They also perform from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. every Friday at the Island Flavor restaurant, 8090 S. Durango Drive, Suite 103.

“People are confused (about Hawaiians),” Gary explained.

He said people with the stereotypical ideas of Hawaii have asked him, “Aren’t Hawaiians living in grass shacks?”

“No,” Gary said, “they don’t live in grass shacks anymore, and the ladies don’t walk around topless in Hawaii; there is so much to teach about our culture.”

The 2010 U.S. Census reported that more than 33,000 native Hawaiians reside in Nevada. That is a low estimate, according to the Haleamaus.

“Nevada is called the ninth (Hawaiian) island. They are flocking in now — it’s out of control,” Gary joked.

For more information about the Nevada Arts Council, visit nac.nevadaculture.org or call 702-486-3700.