2001 Kauai Vacation Winner

Island Soap & Candle Works was pleased to announce the winner of our Tell-A-Friend free trip to Kauai contest for the year 2000.  Our winner was Diana Peterson from Petaluma, California.  

The following article was published in the Garden Island newspaper on April 23, 2001

Monday, April 23, 2001
Winners of free trip planned to vacation here

A SWEET-SCENTED GIFT PACK, including Island Soap & Candle Works products, greeted contest winners Jerry Sullivan and Diana Petersen (center) upon their arrival at Lihu"e Airport. On hand were Island Soap General Manager Jim Psaila (right) and Soap-maker Denise Roll (left). The California couple won a trip for two to Kaua"i, including airfare and accommodations for six nights, through a contest at Island Soap's Web site, www.islandsoap.com. Staff photo by Dennis Fujimoto

By PAUL C. CURTIS TGI Business Editor

LIHU'E - After a few e-mail correspondences confirmed that the Hawai"i trip they won through an Internet contest entry wasn't a hoax, Diana Petersen and Jerry Sullivan were glad to accept Island Soap & Candle Works' offer of a free trip to Kaua"i, plus hideaway accommodations in a cottage at Kalihiwai Ridge.

For winner Petersen, it is her first trip to Kaua"i, but fourth to the state. She visited O"ahu and Maui, and purchased an Island Soap lotion product while on Maui. Sullivan has been on Kaua"i once before, in 1984, two years after Hurricane "Iwa visited. The couple, friends for 15 years who live 50 miles apart in Northern California, had often discussed a trip to Kaua"i, but were waiting for the timing to be right.

It was Sullivan who figured Kaua"i would be the perfect tonic for Petersen, a legal secretary in Petaluma, Calif., around 40 miles north of San Francisco.

This summer was effectively ruled out, though, as Petersen's daughter will wed in June. But they planned on coming to this island even before Petersen let her friend Sullivan know she had won airfare and accommodations for two, from the Island Soap & Candle Works Web site, www.islandsoap.com.

Their seven days, six nights began Thursday as they touched down at Lihu"e Airport after an uneventful flight on Hawaiian Airlines from San Francisco to Honolulu. All of their luggage arrived with them.

Meeting them at the airport were Jim Psaila, Island Soap general manager, along with Denise Roll, soap-maker, and Richard Mendoza, administrative assistant. In hand, Psaila carried a gift basket containing Kauai Kookies, candies, macadamia nuts, a selection of coffees, Kilauea Bakery breadsticks, juice, and a slack-key guitar CD.

Mendoza offered an island information packet, which included the latest issue of The Garden Island newspaper, its sister publication the Kaua"i Beach Press, 101 Things to Do, Kaua"i magazine, Ultimate Kauai Guide Book, and, naturally, directions to the Island Soap warehouse and stores (Kilauea and Koloa).

Sullivan, 58, brought along his guitar, and plans to practice his slack-key stylings while on the island. A retired government machinist, Sullivan studies the craft at home in Vacaville, Calif. Petersen, 56, plans to do some touring in their Budget rental car, as well as her version of a little r-and-r: reading and relaxation.

They also were looking at hiking parts of the Kalalau Trail from Ke"e Beach on the North Shore, and possibly renting bicycles. Sullivan runs six miles a day at home. They are not golfers, they said nearly in unison.

When told that there are Harley-Davidson motorcycles to be rented on the island, they decided to stick with four-wheeled transportation this time. They both own more than one German-made BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) motorcycle back in California.

Petersen said she only entered the online contest once before being informed she was the grand-prize winner. About 1,200 people entered the contest by referring other Internet-enabled friends to the site.

Since winning, she has informed several of her friends about the ongoing monthly contests, offering products as prizes, and annual contest with the Kaua"i trip as the prize, at the Kaua"i company's Web site.

The site, according to Webmaster Bob Kaiser, gets around 300 hits a day.

The visitors are staying at what's commonly called the Kaiser Cottage of Bob and Vicki Kaiser along Kalihiholo Road in Kalihiwai.

In addition to its Kaua"i warehouse and production facility and retail stores at Kilauea (Kong Lung Company building) and Old Koloa Town, Island Soap recently opened its first Maui store, has another at Honolulu's Ward Warehouse, and has been invited to establish a presence inside the Duty Free Shoppers megastore in Waikiki, Psaila said.