All this and more is going on Saturday, April 16th within a one-mile radius of Waimea Town center. Waimea is truly celebrating youth this weekend.

Saturday kicks off with the Semi Annual Book Sale benefiting Friends of Thelma Parker Library. Under the leadership of Carol Buck for the past seven and a half years, the Book Sale generates about $2,000 to $3,000 in funds to benefit Waimea's school and community library. Teachers from public, private and home schools are welcome to come at 8am for the first pick of books of all kinds. The sale will be open to the public at 9am.

"We have some incredible biography books," said Buck of the upcoming sale, along with an impressive collection of books on World War Two. "There are a lot of beautiful children's books that will be priced at $1 or $2, she added. "Generally the kids books are the first to sell."

For more information on upcoming Book Sale or to make a book or monetary donation, call Carol Buck during the library's business hours at 887-6067.

Nearby at the Parker Ranch Center, the 6th annual Waimea Health Keiki Fest will begin at 10am with over 60 community organizations volunteering their Saturday to provide fun, educational games for children in Pre-Kindergarten through sixth grade.

The event will feature the popular Keiki Fest Passport, where children have the opportunity to get their "Passport to Well Being" stamped at a variety of education booths in the areas of health, safety, fitness, environment, mind and spirit. Children will also be able to get their picture taken at the Keiki Fest Passport Photo Booth to paste into their passport.

Across town, the 3rd annual Battle of the Bands will kick off at 10am at Waimea Park and run until 5pm. The event is free and open to the public. Bands in three categories of music will compete for up to $1,000 in prizes. This drug and alcohol free event will also feature other booths and activities including the climbing wall, craft and food booths. For more information call 775-9290, or email: veronika@aloha.net.

Later that day, "The Ohana Project: Poetry in Motion" benefit dance concert, directed by Nancy Candea, will be performed at 7 p.m. April 16 and 3 p.m. April 17 at Kahilu Theatre.

The event is a benefit for the West Hawaii Mediation Center, a non-profit organization founded in 1988, which provides an array of conflict resolutions services to individuals and organizations in the West Hawaii community.

The event will feature dancers from all over the island, including Beyond Dance Theater, directed by choreographer and dancer Candea, Michael Pili Pang's Halau Hula Ka Noeau, the Hawaii Island Bahai Youth Workshop, students of trapeze professional Emily Herb, Hawaii Shin-Budo Kai and Yumi Hancock's Waimea Dance Studio. The poetry written for this project will be published in a booklet that will be sold for additional funding for the center. Tickets are $25 for adults and free for children. Tickets are available at the West Hawaii Mediation Center (885-5525) or Boundless Yoga Center (885-9642), Byrd's Audio or at the door. For more information on the "Poetry in Motion" benefit dance concert, call Candea at 885-9642.

The surge in youth activities may be linked to the efforts about six years ago by Dr. Sharon Vitousek of the North Hawaii Outcomes Project and Betsy Cole, then Executive Director of Five Mountains, who convened eleven focus groups to try and identify what would improve the health of the North Hawaii Community.

"Many of the eleven groups talked about more youth activities as a pathway to a more healthy community," said Vitousek. As a result of this feedback, increasing youth activities became on of six key priorities for improving the health of the North Hawaii community.

"Since that time it seems to me there has been quite a bit of community collaborative activity around increasing constructive youth activities and using activities as a vehicle for promoting healthy youth development," continued Vitousek.

Vitousek points to several success stories beyond those being held this weekend. The 21st Century Learning Center grants have providing funding to after school programs for North Hawaii students. The Youth Activities Coalition has attracted talented leaders in our community to focus and nurture youth activities. The Kohala Center has blossomed with several youth science camps. There is never an idle daylight hour at the Waimea Skate Park, and teen dances are now held regularly on Friday nights. Busses take off for Kona field trips and the Ambrosia project at Waimea Middle School is beginning to break ground with cooking classes integrated into the school curriculum.