Palolo put its pride on parade yesterday, and many of the proudest people weren't even from the area.

Instead, senior citizens from Kaimuki, a volunteer from Kailua and students from Kapi'olani Community College were among those who turned out for the 12th annual Palolo Pride Celebration.

That was fitting, they said, because the yearly event has become as much about the valley's relationship to the rest of Island as it is about the residents themselves.

"Even if you don't live in Palolo, you're a Palolo wannabe," Mayor Mufi Hannemann told the crowds who assembled in Palolo Valley District Park to eat, frolic, listen to music and learn more about the changing nature of an area that was once thought of as hard-scrabble, but now is being touted, as one supporter said, "the next Manoa."

"I don't know if that's good or bad, but it shows you how much things are changing," said Anne Chipchase, who chaired this year's event.

For decades, even some of its residents thought of Palolo as a tough place, with a reputation for crime, drugs and poverty. Just saying you were from the valley could cause you to throw up your fists in self-defense, one resident told The Advertiser a few years ago.

While some of that feeling may still linger, there were few signs of it at yesterday's event. Thanks in part to a lot of outside help, the schools are improving, the parks are full of activity and home prices are on the rise, supporters said.

"Jarrett Middle School has improved for three straight years and was the first school in Hawai'i to come out of restructuring under the No Child Left Behind law," said Ulu Hasager, director of the Palolo Pipeline Program, a 9-year-old project in which students from Kapi'olani Community College, Chaminade University and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa serve as education volunteers in the community. "And Palolo Elementary School has improved for two years straight and needs just one more year to come out of restructuring."

Eighty-year-old Gladys Evenson, a Kaimuki resident, said she has been helping out at the Palolo Chinese Home deep in the valley for 35 years, almost back to the era when Palolo was a rural farming community that could be reached only by a long walk from the trolley stop on Wai'alae Avenue.

"The valley is a special place like that," Chipchase said. "It gets maligned sometimes, but a lot of people don't see the other side of things, with all the people helping out."

That included volunteers from the group First LAP — Life After Prison — whose dedication to providing security for yesterday's celebration including sleeping in the park overnight to protect the tents and supplies that were brought in early, Chipchase said.

Kailua resident Bob Hutchison, a retired real estate salesman who serves as president of the Mutual Assistance Association Center operating above the park's gymnasium, said he gets a lot of satisfaction out of helping provide a structured afterschool learning environment for the valley's students, many of whom live in the area's public housing projects and are immigrants from Pacific island nations.

"They can stop in on their way home and use our computers to do their homework," he said. Afterward, they're encouraged to stay around and play or download music on the computers, which are all donated by people across the island.

"They know they can count on us. They're learning a lesson in reliability," Hutchison said.

All of the money raised in yesterday's event goes to help the MAAC, which might explain why Sen. Les Ihara Jr., D-9th (Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo) kept returning time and time again to a water dunking booth that enticed children and adults alike at the going rate of two scrip for three balls.

"It's a great cause," he said, just before falling into the water one more time.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.