It was a night that brought a touch of the tropics to Caldwell with Hawaiian history, culture and even the aroma of a roasted pig.

"You can smell that all the way outside," Councilman Joseph Norton said.

But, perhaps more importantly, Caldwell's first Presidential Luau provided a sense of healing to the native islanders.

Nearly 100 gathered Thursday night to honor Caldwell native Stephen Grover Cleveland—the country's 22nd and 24th president—at the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell where his father, Richard, was a former pastor.

While area residents enjoyed an evening of food, song and dance, the annual visit is an opportunity for the Hawaiians to escape the harsh historical memories Cleveland tried hard to prevent.

"It's very good for us to heal from some of the historical trauma," said Rev. Kaleo Patterson, of the Pacific Justice Reconciliation Center. "In our communities, there's still a lot of anger and resentment. If everyone could come and visit a place like this—someone like President Grover Cleveland had what we believe was a good understanding of the issue.

"We can all feel a little bit better about ourselves and cleansed and do things in a positive way. That's really what we're about."

The five native islanders made their fifth journey to Caldwell to celebrate Hawaiian Restoration Day, which is April 30 when they believe Cleveland asked for a day of prayer for restoration and healing for the entire country, but specifically the Kingdom of Hawaii.

A year after the group began visiting Caldwell, Hawaiian legislation passed a resolution to officially mark April 30 as Hawaiian Restoration Day.

Their latest trip, however, had a new twist. The Caldwell Downtown Committee, headed by Norton, Council President Ann Dassing and Mayor Susan Gartland, presented the borough's first luau that was attended by community members of all ages who received a taste of Hawaiian culture and a lesson in Cleveland's significant impact on the islanders.

"This is awesome. We're really happy to have some of the leaders of the community come out. We're big fans of Grover Cleveland," said Patterson, whose group attended a similar luau last week in Buffalo where Cleveland served as mayor for less than a year before elected New York's governor in 1882. 

"We want to continue that spirit of bringing those from Hawaii with the people of Caldwell. The council has been so supportive. We want to continue to develop a relationship with them. It's a great way to bridge cross-cultures. We're about as far away as you can get and we've met some amazing people from this area. This is kind of a reconciliation. We're trying to heal the hurts and resentments of the past to build a better future."

When Cleveland, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, entered office for a second time in 1893, a treaty to annex Hawaii had been placed before Congress by President Benjamin Harrison, who Cleveland lost to in the 1888 election but came back to defeat in 1892 to earn his second term.

Cleveland, who built a relationship with Hawaiian Queen Lilliuokalani during his first term, withdrew the treaty from Congress within the first week of his second term.

While he formed an agreement with the queen, Cleveland was unable to prevent the United States' annexation of the island after he left office. The treaty was signed by President William McKinley in 1897 that made Hawaii a U.S. territory. Hawaii eventually became the 50th state in 1959.

It's a piece of history with Caldwell roots that Norton feels all borough students should learn.

In addition to the luau where Leon Siu spoke of Cleveland's significance to Hawaii and Dr. Ha'aheo Guanson provided children with a hula dance lesson, the group visited Lincoln School earlier Thursday and will provide a presentation to Trinity Academy students on Friday morning prior to a flag-raising ceremony at the Grover Cleveland Birthplace.

"What a fabulous turnout for the first year. It's what we expected, but definitely on the high end of the spectrum. We put this concept together five weeks ago from conversation to a full luau. A lot of people pitched in, a lot of ideas were thrown out there and it really rolled together and worked out fabulous," Norton said.

"This is the first step that we're doing in creating the buzz for downtown Caldwell. This is going to be included every year as far as I'm concerned. There's no reason to stop this. You have to learn how to crawl before you learn to walk. This was a nice crawl. This is a great crawl. Next year, I'd love to double the size of this. This is going to be good."