The field near the corner of Kamehameha Highway and Ka Uka Boulevard has new grass on it. In early September, city officials stood on that turf and tossed footballs and frisbees and kicked a soccer ball around to show it was safe for public use again. Since spring, the same ground had been fenced off as a storm debris site and then a restoration project.
A few minutes away, the 5,000-seat stadium at the Waipiʻo Soccer Complex will have a different fall from usual. It is the University of Hawaiʻi women's soccer team's home field, and this year the team is not coming back. Put the two stories together and you get an unusual season. Waipiʻo's large public grounds are fully open again, and the events on them through December are mostly youth leagues, junior tournaments and local gatherings.
Three thousand tons, then grass seed
Patsy T. Mink Central Oʻahu Regional Park, which most people call CORP, fully reopened on September 3, 2026. After the March 2026 flooding, part of the park was named a temporary debris storage site under emergency proclamations. Over 18 days, about 3,000 tons of storm debris came to the site. Crews sorted it there and hauled it to Waimānalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill and to recyclers.
Most of that material came from the hardest-hit areas, mainly the North Shore. The Department of Parks and Recreation described much of it as the remains of people's homes and belongings. The section used was a passive park field that normally isn't permitted for recreational activity.
The city says an independent lab tested the soil before and after cleanup and found no harmful contaminants, meeting all Department of Health requirements. Crews then graded the site with clean soil, repaired the irrigation and reseeded the area. The test results are posted on the city's temporary debris site page. A June update from the Department of Environmental Services had forecast an August reopening. The actual date was September 3, and the city called it "roughly six-month process" from start to finish.
Neighbors had made their concerns known. State Senator Danielle Bass, who represents the area, put it this way at the reopening:
"After the Kona Lows, I immediately heard from Mililani, Waipiʻo, and Waikele residents concerned about debris being stored at Central Oʻahu Regional Park. We raised those concerns directly with the city and pushed for full restoration."
The fencing is gone now, and the whole park is open.
The stadium's headliner stayed in Mānoa
The soccer complex had its own reset this year. DPR closed it for all of June 2026 for aeration, verticutting, weed control, irrigation repairs, sidewalk work and plumbing inspections. Much of that work was to get the stadium field ready for the 2026 UH women's soccer season.
Then the season opened somewhere else. The Rainbow Wahine started their schedule on August 13 at their newly finished on-campus field. In August, the city still hoped to host the team again for Mountain West play in October. On September 8, UH announced it would play all remaining 2026 home matches at UH Lower Campus Field. The official schedule lists every remaining home date at Lower Campus: Nevada on October 7, UTEP on October 11, Grand Canyon on October 24, UNLV on October 28 and New Mexico on November 1. Admission on campus is free, though parking fees apply.
If you have an older calendar on the fridge, check it. The AYSO Section 7 calendar, last revised July 21, still shows the UH Wahine against Grand Canyon at Waipiʻo on October 24. That match is now in Mānoa.
Who fills 21 fields without a college team
UH's games were the stadium's televised nights, but the complex was always mostly a community facility. It has 21 regulation fields on 288 acres and hosts about 1,153 teams a year, with about a dozen tournaments and large events. With the college team in Mānoa this fall, the schedule is made up almost entirely of that local and visiting youth play:
- September 12 to October 31: AYSO Region 769's 6U fall season plays on Field 4.
- November 14: Area 7E 10U Sportsmanship at Waipiʻo.
- November 27 to 29: The Hawaii Thanksgiving Invitational brings boys' and girls' U8 to U15 teams to the complex over the holiday weekend.
- December 26 to 28: AYSO's Island's Best Tournament fills the days after Christmas.
For anyone living near the complex, those dates mark the busy weekends on the roads leading into it, especially Thanksgiving weekend and the stretch after Christmas.
The rest of CORP, amenity by amenity
The reopened lawn is one corner of a much larger park. Here is what's running this fall:
- Jarand M.Y. Iwase Tennis Complex. DPR's 2023 inventory lists 20 courts. The USTA has a Level 5 junior singles tournament there on October 24 and 25, 2026.
- K. Mark Takai Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center. It's a 50-meter pool with a diving well and boards. Fall sessions of water exercise, masters swimming, learn-to-swim and stroke refinement run from early September to mid-November.
- Patsy T. Mink Central Oʻahu Dog Park. This off-leash park opened in December 2020 and is about 12,800 square feet, per DPR.
- Archery range, diamonds and walking path. The same 2023 inventory lists a 20-lane archery range, 12 baseball and softball diamonds, playgrounds, multipurpose fields and a walking path.
Pickleball players will need a different park. DPR's court list puts six pickleball courts at Waipiʻo Neighborhood Park and none at CORP.
October on Ka Uka and Lumiaina
Outside the parks, the month's other events are on Lumiaina Street in Waikele. The overlap with the sports calendar is tight on the last two weekends of October.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 16, 4 to 8 p.m. | What the Truck?! food truck night | Waikele Center, 94-849 Lumiaina St. |
| Oct 24 to 25 | USTA junior singles tournament | Iwase Tennis Complex, CORP |
| Oct 31 | Last day of AYSO 6U fall season | Waipiʻo Soccer Complex, Field 4 |
| Oct 31, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Monster Bash | Waikele Premium Outlets, Center Stage near Spirit Halloween, 94-790 Lumiaina St. |
The organizer of What the Truck?! describes it as a family-friendly gathering of more than 60 vendors. The Monster Bash lineup includes costume gifts, face painting, balloon twisting, music and games.
On the Waipiʻo side, the USTA tournament notes say restaurants and supermarkets are about a mile from the CORP tennis site. Waipio Shopping Center is one nearby option, and 916 Grill St. + ShabuZen is one of its current tenants. The center brought in 916 Grill St. and ShabuZen as the food vendors for its Da Aloha 3C Showcase, a crafts, cars and trading cards event the center promoted in July. Our earlier guides to weekends around Waipiʻo and Waikele and shopping, parks and commutes cover the rest of the routine.
The next big weekend on the calendar is Thanksgiving, when teams from the Hawaii Thanksgiving Invitational play at the soccer complex from November 27 to 29.
If you live near CORP or the soccer complex and are thinking about listing, the tournament weekends and quieter weekdays on this calendar can help with open house timing. Sue's HI Homes can plan staging and showings in Waipiʻo and Waikele around them. Schedule Your Free Consultation.
