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CORVALLIS - Fifty years ago, some Oregon State University Hawaiian students found themselves 2,500 miles from home and a little homesick, so they decided to bring "a little bit of the islands to OSU" by inviting everyone to a luau.

That tradition has grown into one of the OSU community's largest and most successful cultural celebrations, annually attracting more than 1,000 visitors to campus, said Ronald Han, luau coordinator for Hui-O-Hawaii, the student group that has sponsored the festival for five decades.

This year's 50th annual Luau Celebration is set on Saturday, April 2, in OSU's Gill Coliseum. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. with dinner from 5-6 p.m., a cultural show at 6 p.m. and a live concert at 8 p.m.

Featured this year are two bands direct from Hawaii - B.E.T. and Koauka.

Tickets are available from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. March 28 through April 1 in the OSU Memorial Union Quad. Tickets for dinner, cultural show and concert are $25 for adults and $15 for children under 12. Combination show and concert tickets are $15. Dinner tickets sell out each year, said Han, a sophomore from Mililani, Hawaii.

For details, contact Han at 808-630-7719 or osuluau2005@yahoo.com.

"We can only serve 750 people for dinner, but if people can't get tickets for the entire evening, they should still come on out to the luau for the show and concert," he said. "We'll be putting on a fantastic show and Gill Coliseum has plenty of room for people who only want to see the show and attend the concert - we can fill the coliseum to the roof."

Luau guests can count on being greeted with traditional South Pacific dances, music and hospitality, according to Han, who is in his second year of coordinating the event. The luau attracts a solid cadre of regulars each year, many of them traveling from Hawaii itself to join in the festivities.

Hui-O-Hawaii receives no student fee dollars and relies on club members, family, alumni and community volunteers for success, he said.

"In addition, we rely on donations from our ohana (family) and friends in Hawaii," Han said.

"If you can't make it to a luau in Hawaii, you have a terrific opportunity to enjoy a wonderful experience at Oregon State," said Kaneohe, Hawaii, resident Barbara Tomita.

One of Hui-O-Hawaii's volunteer island coordinators, Tomita is charged this year with collecting bushels of authentic island foliage and making sure she gets the fresh foliage to the island airport and bundled onto a flight to Portland so the greenery makes it to Corvallis just in time for the luau.

"My daughter, Jamie Tomita, is a senior who's graduating from OSU with her bachelor's of science and will then be entering OSU's pharmacy program," she said.

"She'll be dancing in this year's luau. The luau is just fantastic. It is so well-planned and the students do just a great job - from setting everything up to cleaning it all up at the end. It's a wonderful effort.

"I guess having a daughter there at Oregon State, we feel like we are part of the university, even here in Hawaii," said Tomita, who has attended several OSU luaus. "We like to give back where we can, so I've volunteered to collect foliage, greenery, flowers and make sure it all gets to OSU in time."

Five island coordinators are charged with getting some 5,000 pounds of material donated and then airlifted from Hawaii to the floor of Gill Coliseum in time for the celebration, Han said.

Cargo also includes pineapple, candies and other island essentials. While much will be used in meal preparation and decorations, other items will be for sale in the Luau's "Country Store."

The retail items are a real bargain, said Sandy Tsuneyoshi, Hui-O-Hawaii Club adviser and coordinator of OSU's Asian Pacific American Education Office. "The prices are usually lower than what you would pay other places," she said.

"We're not out to make a killing on prices at the luau," Han said. "Normally we don't make any sort of profit - our goal is just to break even on costs."

Dinner will include a number of luau staples such as poi, chicken long rice, lomi lomi salmon, shoyu chicken, haupia and kalua pig, Tsuneyoshi said.

Following dinner, the main show features a range of Polynesian dances performed by Hui-O-Hawaii members.

"This year, we're having three fire knife dancers," Tsuneyoshi said. The Samoan dances feature a blazing staff with a weighted blade that is twirled and twisted to the sounds of a pounding drum beat.

One of the dancers, Ben Calhoun, an OSU senior in math from Oahu, admits he wasn't much of a performer before he joined the luau ohana (family). But under the eyes of the club's dance instructors, he's now honed his skills to split-second precision.

As with most members, the luau offers a way for Calhoun to stay connected to his homeland.

"I originally got involved to keep in touch with my roots. We are all part of the same nation, but there are a lot of cultural differences between life in Hawaii and life on the mainland," Calhoun said.

Luau dancer Tiana Keener, a sophomore in psychology from American Samoa, says dance has always been a big part of her life.

"I've always danced - for my whole life. I really do love dancing because it is such a reflection of my culture - and it makes me feel at home here in Corvallis."

Ita Rubio, an OSU senior in ethnic studies from Kauai, Hawaii, is one of the luau directors charged with turning the volunteer dancers into a precision team of performers. A professional dancer who performed at island hotels before coming to OSU, Rubio said the spirit and determination of the club members are a great reward for the hard work producing the show.

Proficient in a wide range of dance, Rubio admits to being partial to ballet, hula and Aztec dances. Despite her experience, Rubio remains humble about her skills. "In dance, you're always learning. There is always something new, you never stop."

Also featured during the show will be large screen video presentations, set above the floor of the coliseum, Tsuneyoshi said. At 7:30 p.m., the main floor will be cleared for the four-hour concert with B.E.T. and Koauka.

B.E.T was the winner of 2003 Hip Hop category in the sixth annual Hawaiian Music Awards. Koauka is a nominee in the island contemporary music category for this year's awards.