A patch of green that took nearly three decades to carve out of densely built Waikiki is finally approaching the finish line. Rotary leaders say Centennial Park, one of the few public green spaces in the neighborhood, is expected to be complete before June 30, with historic and educational signage marking the project's final major push.
“We expect that the park will be finished before the end of our Rotary year which is June 30,” according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which reported that Rich Proctor, Rotary District 5000's district governor-elect, called the signage the project's final major component. The planned signage will highlight the histories of both Waikiki and Rotary in Hawaii, the newspaper reports. Plans for the park have also expanded to include a peace pole, a Rotary symbol meant to promote international understanding, per the same report.
A Promise That Outlived Its Champion
The park's roots trace back to 1998, when community activist Bill Sweatt began pushing to transform a derelict lot behind his Waikiki condominium into a neighborhood park instead of letting it become a high-rise senior living facility, a plan he helped block. Sweatt organized a petition drive that gathered more than 700 signatures in support of the idea, according to the Star-Advertiser's 2011 report on his efforts. He died in 2011, years before seeing the project reach groundbreaking.
The city bought the 33,000-square-foot property in 2003 for $2.57 million, the Star-Advertiser reports, but the parcel then spent years serving as a staging area for infrastructure projects rather than becoming the park Sweatt had envisioned. The City and County of Honolulu and the Rotary Club of Honolulu didn't form a partnership to advance the project until 2016, two decades after the initial push began.
From Groundbreaking to Near-Completion
Centennial Park finally broke ground in 2019, 20 years after the effort had begun, and opened in 2021 after being transformed from its former life as a construction staging area, according to Hawaii News Now. Rob Hale, who was past president of the Rotary Club of Honolulu during the 2019 groundbreaking, described the park's development as a story of delay, tenacity and perseverance, the Star-Advertiser reports.
The amounts Rotary has put toward the park differ depending on the report: the Star-Advertiser reports Rotary contributed $1.5 million toward construction, while the station's earlier report put the Rotary Club of Honolulu's contribution at about $1.9 million raised through fundraising and donations.
Earlier this year, the park also underwent a fencing renovation, replacing its chain-link fence with new metal fencing atop the existing rock wall, per the station's report. That roughly $310,000 project was expected to be completed by the end of October, when the park was slated to reopen. Hawai‘i Rotary District 5000 has described the signage and additional landscaping now underway as Increment 4, calling it the project's last component in an update posted on its website.
A Visit From Rotary's Incoming Global President
The park's progress drew a high-profile visitor during a 48-hour trip to Honolulu by Larry A. Lunsford, who is scheduled to serve as Rotary International president for 2027-28. Lunsford, a member of the Rotary Club of Kansas City-Plaza in Missouri, described Centennial Park as an example of Rotary's local and international impact, according to the Star-Advertiser. He also said Hawaii Rotary members are known for their service and support of the Rotary Foundation.
Lunsford's connection to the foundation runs personal: he studied at the University of Newcastle in Australia on a Rotary Foundation scholarship, and he has said the educational award changed his life. Days before his Honolulu visit, he dedicated a peace pole at that same Australian university. He said he would like to return to dedicate the peace pole planned for Centennial Park as well.
Peace Poles and a Statewide Fundraising Push
Peace poles like the one planned for Centennial Park bear the message “May peace prevail on Earth” in the host country's language, often alongside additional community languages. The message traces back to Masahisa Goi, who created it after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and more than 250,000 such poles now stand worldwide, according to the Star-Advertiser's report.
Rotary's work in the park ties into a broader statewide campaign. The Rotary Foundation has launched a drive to raise $1 million through charitable contributions and planned giving, with the funds supporting both Hawaii district grants and international projects carried out by Rotary clubs worldwide. Rotary District 5000 now includes 50 clubs across the Hawaiian Islands, including one chartered earlier in 2026, and Lunsford said Rotary hopes to push that number even higher.
The push comes as Rotary pursues a global membership drive aimed at growing the organization by about 10% by 2030, seeking to reach 1.25 million Rotarians and build its Rotaract youth membership to 125,000 by that year, per the Star-Advertiser. For Waikiki, though, the more immediate marker of progress will be simpler: a finished park, nearly 30 years after one resident first pushed to build it.
