Letter of Thanks

I wrote the following letter of thanks to the participants in the Labor Day weekend Okinawan Festival bonsai display by the Hawaiʻi Bonsai Association:

Classic Bonsai Club
Pacific Bonsai Club
Paradise Bonsai Club
Pearl City Bonsai Club
Rainbow Bonsai Club

Dear Oʻahu Bonsai Club Presidents,

Please pass on this letter of thanks to your clubs' membership.

This year's Okinawan Festival was the biggest and best yet. I am proud that the Hawaiʻi Bonsai Association (HBA) was able to make a major contribution to the two-day event that included over two dozen visiting dignitaries from Okinawa. We were once again able to make a significant monetary contribution to the Hawaiʻi United Okinawa Association (HUOA) as an expression of our thanks for enabling us to further our mission of spreading knowledge and love of the art of bonsai.

Special thanks go to my Okinawan Festival Co-Chair Nelson for his hard work and the long hours he put in; to HBA Treasurer Kathy who set up our finances; to Past President Charlene for sharing her vast knowledge and assisting with the sales processes; to Classic Club President Alvin who, acting as show chair, enabled the production of an outstanding bonsai exhibit.

My heartfelt thanks to all those who contributed bonsai to the tremendously beautiful display and to those club members who volunteered their valuable time to cover the four shifts, making our effort the great success it was. Those who donated bonsai for sale allowed us to once again give an ample donation to HUOA: thank you.

We appreciate the enormous annual undertaking of HUOA in putting on this well conceived and executed venture, one of the greater annual public events in Hawaiʻi.

Best wishes to all,

Richard Jeffery Wagner, President
Hawaiʻi Bonsai Association

The letter was sent to the club presidents for distribution to their members.


Maggie, a radio personality with KZOO in Honolulu came to our display and invited me to be interviewed on-air. It was fun.
She would ask a question in English, I would answer while she took notes, then she would translate my answer into Japanese, and repeat.

Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com

LetterOfThanks.html: This hand-crafted, human-readable, HTML file was created September 2, 2025.
Last updated September 3, 2025 by Dr. Richard Jeffery Wagner. Text and images copyright © 2025, unless otherwise attributed, all rights reserved.