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It’s been more than two months since the fires. In that time, it’s safe to say that many of us on Maui are still learning to live with its aftermath and life without Lahaina.

For the most part — aside from Lahaina and Kula — Maui looks pretty much the same. Kihei, Wailuku, and the North Shore have been spared mass destruction. The large donation center and shelter at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku has packed up. And most of the national news reporters have moved on to another crisis.

Of course, looks are deceiving. There are reminders everywhere that things are different and that Lahaina, one of the oldest western settlements in the islands, the first capital of the kingdom, and a prime economic force in the county is gone.

Halloween was a big reminder. This was the first year in anyone’s living memory of a Halloween without Lahaina town.

How Halloween in Lahaina — with Front Street in particular — turned into one of the biggest events in the county is unclear. Some say bars and restaurants on Front Street had modest gatherings in the 1970s and ‘80s until it eventually grew into a more formal celebration with closed streets, costume contests, and controversy. Others, however, disagree.

They remember the wedding.

Decades ago, a musician, Noel Montelone wanted to celebrate Halloween in Lahaina in style. With about 120 yards of fabric, he put together a wedding dress and created a zombie bride for himself.

Then, without about 20 guests, he arrived at Longhi’s restaurant, a fixture on Front Street, ate a wedding cake and imbibed lots of champagne. From there, they moved out of the restaurant and reveled down Front Street toward the banyan tree and the Pioneer Inn.

Others joined in the impromptu procession as they walked around traffic and on top of parked vehicles. Montelone later estimated about 1,000 people were with him when he reached the banyan tree. 

“People were walking over the tops of cars,” he later recalled in an interview. “We headed back to Longhi’s and partied ‘til sun-up. And that was the beginning of it.”

Despite its murky origins, for most of my life Front Street on Halloween was the biggest street party on the island. By the 1990s, it had grown so large that folks from the mainland were heading over with more and more elaborate costumes.

People would fly over to Maui and book two seats: one for them and one for their costumes. Costume contests and events centered around the party. Some places even had luxurious prizes for the best costumes like a trip to Tahiti.

The police presence grew with the crowds over the years. By 2007, Halloween in Lahaina was carefully coordinated and planned by the Lahaina Town Action Center. They applied with the county to close off streets, pay for the extra police officers, and try to keep things as orderly as possible.

There was controversy in this too. Native Hawaiian groups were troubled by the scantily clad costumes, the drinking, and the all-night party in Lahaina. They certainly had a point. I remember as a young lawyer going to Lahaina District Court for the morning calendar on Halloween. Someone thought it would be just hilarious to come to court dressed up as a clown — with make-up, wig, and rubber nose and everything. (The judge didn’t see it that way and his sentence seemed unduly harsh.)

In 2008, the county denied the permits to close off the streets and host the party — except for the keiki parade in the afternoon. But even that didn’t stop people from going to Front Street. Now, there was traffic. The crowds were certainly smaller and it was less wild, but people still congregated around the banyan tree. Bars and restaurants still had costume contests, and people still dressed up for Halloween.

It was like that for another three years, before then-mayor Alan Arakawa announced that Halloween was going to come “back.” The county closed the streets again over the objections of civic groups. I remember a last-ditch effort to stop it with a lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court. The court nixed it days before the event.

A spokesman for the mayor at the time nearly quoted the Beastie Boys when he said that the county was “fighting for the right to party.”

The crowds came back to Lahaina after that. The costumes were still elaborate, but it wasn’t as rowdy and notorious as before. Maybe that was a good thing. Lahaina was a sacred place for monarchs and alii. The groups and people objecting to turning their home into a night of excessive drinking and a wild party had a point.

As for me, I didn’t go to Front Street all that often on Halloween — only a couple times. My last Halloween there was in 2018, before the pandemic. Charter boats normally reserved for whale watching were running people in costume from Maalaea Harbor, around the West Maui mountains, and dropping folks off in Lahaina Harbor. Sure, there were plenty of tourists, but I was surprised to see so many familiar faces, friends and colleagues walking up and down Front Street.

That’s over now. Front Street was quiet, empty and dark on Halloween night. It’s a sad thought. With so much death and destruction, I wonder if a party on Front Street will ever come back.

Not only that, but given the dangerous toxins in the soil, air and water, and uncertainty about the future of the place, Front Street has become more frightening than anything you’d find on Halloween.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.