It could have been the float, so sublimely executed it took top honors in the Grand Sweepstakes.

Perhaps it was the country's largest all-girl marching band rocking Kalakaua Avenue with its rocking rendition of Earth Wind and Fire's "September." Or may-be it was the trolley full of beaming nuns waving up a storm.

Whatever it was, Sacred Hearts Academy certainly left an impression at yesterday's 63rd Aloha Festivals Floral Parade in Waikiki.

Thousands lined Kala-kaua Avenue for the parade, many setting up beach chairs and coolers long before the 9 a.m. start at Aloha Tower.

While this year's parade honored the Hawaiian tradition of hula, there was no ignoring a strong Roman Catholic undertone as the Sacred Hearts contingent celebrated a pair of significant anniversaries and hundreds of other marchers representing the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu bore images of soon-to-be-canonized Father Damien on T-shirts, floats and signs.

The Sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary is celebrating their 150th year in Hawai'i. Sacred Hearts Academy turns 100 this year.

For Sister Helene Wood, participating in yesterday's parade was a fitting way to celebrate both milestones.

"The sisters came to serve the people of Hawai'i," Wood said. "This is one way to celebrate with the community. It's local, it's ethnic, just like us. The original sisters came from France and Belgium and passed the torch to our local sisters."

Like other orders of nuns across the country, the Sacred Hearts sisters are diminishing in number — there are 38 in the order — with few, if any, young sisters to replace them.

Whatever the order's future, Wood said, its lasting legacy will be the thousands of young women educated at Sacred Hearts Academy.

"They are a blessing to us, and they make us very proud with the hope they carry with them to make a difference in the world for the better."

Yesterday, no academy alumna was more exalted than Tracy Keli'iho'omalu, the festival's mo'i wahine (queen), whose appearance with the royal court drew raucous applause from Sacred Hearts faithful. Sacred Hearts students, teachers and parents spent months preparing for the event.

LOTS OF PRACTICE

Band director Matthew Martin said his musicians practiced for two hours twice a week since August to get ready.

Wood said other students spent "hundreds of hours" working on the school float, which was designed by Owen Ho.

The float featured a series of artfully decorated panels chronicling the history of the order and the academy.

The first depicted the Nelson, the ship on which the first sisters arrived. Included in the portrait was a barrel, a visual nod to one of the order's favorite stories: The Nelson was forced to drop anchor offshore, so barrels were used to transport the sisters to a small skiff that would take them ashore.

With more than 100 organizations participating, the massive parade offered the assembled crowd an impressive display of the civic, cultural, political, business and social life of the Islands. Among those marching were Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, the Honolulu Elks Lodge 616, the Lions Club, the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Honolulu Boy Choir, the U.S. Marine Corps Marching Band, Hawaiian Airlines, 'Aha Punana Leo, various pageant queens, and marching bands from Wai'anae High School, Kamehameha Schools, Holy Family Catholic Academy, Waipahu High School and others.

Indeed, enthusiasm for the parade and for the individual organizations that participated was palpable despite the wilting mid-afternoon heat.

Becky Hall flew in from Costa Mesa, Calif., just to take in the event. She first learned of it during a visit here in May.

"It couldn't be any better," said Hall, who found a cozy spot for her beach chair just before the intersection with Kapahulu. "The live music on the floats was special," she said. "It's all beautiful — the flowers, the music, the dancing, all of it."