Attending a cultural competition is great strategy to study and admire music, dance, meals, artwork and crafts of any tradition. It’s a delight to all of the senses. All year long, the Hawaiian Islands host cultural festivals for guests and locals to have a good time Hawaii’s distinctive, numerous and wealthy cultures.
We now have all the time loved catching a cultural competition throughout our visits to Hawaii. One factor that we’ve realized is that these festivals are sometimes a lot extra concerned than what their titles would possibly recommend. For instance, one yr we obtained to expertise the Kona Espresso Pageant and it turned out to be far more than simply espresso tasting. There was a parade, live shows, meals and humanities and crafts, too. One other yr, we had been in Kauai for Lei Day (Could 1st) and the occasions had been rather more than simply shows of lovely lei. There was a royal court docket presentation, cultural demonstrations, music and extra.
It’s been 4 years since we last published the January-through-April checklist of festivals. Within the final yr, extra Hawaii cultural festivals are beginning to have a resurgence. We’re optimistic that 2024 will virtually be again to pre-2020 normalcy.
We curate lists of the highest cultural festivals 3 times per yr within the following blocks:
- January by April
- Could by August (publishing in April)
- September by December (publishing in August)
To make the checklist of festivals “skimmable” so that you can discover the dates and island(s) that correspond to your trip, we arrange the festivals chronologically underneath every month. The format for every entry is:
Date (or date vary) – Island – Occasion
To maintain this checklist as streamlined as attainable, we hyperlink to the occasions so that you can study extra about them and get additional particulars.
JANUARY CULTURAL FESTIVALS
January is often a lightweight month for cultural festivals. See the lists under of ongoing, weekly and month-to-month cultural occasions and cultural packages hosted by buying facilities.
FEBRUARY CULTURAL FESTIVALS
Whole month – Maui – Maui Whale Festival
third – Hawaii, Large Island – The 31st Annual Waimea Cherry Blossom Heritage Festival
10th – All islands – Lunar/Chinese language New Yr – Some celebrations make happen on completely different days.
17th – 18th – Hawaii, Large Island – Panaewa Stampede Rodeo
17th – 25th – The 47th Annual Waimea Town Celebration
MARCH CULTURAL FESTIVALS
ninth – 10th – Oahu – The 28th Annual Honolulu Festival
ninth – Hawaii, Large Island – Kona Brewers Festival
26th – All Islands – Prince Kuhio Day – This statewide vacation is noticed on March 26th, however celebrations could happen on different dates as properly. Verify native newspapers for occasions, significantly on Kauai and Oahu.
29th – 30th – Maui – The 32nd Annual Celebration of the Arts
31st – Hawaii, Large Island – Opening day of the 61st Annual Merrie Monarch Festival
APRIL CULTURAL FESTIVALS
April 1st – sixth – The 61st Annual Merrie Monarch Festival – That is arguably the highest cultural competition in all of Hawaii. It’s essentially the most tough ticket to safe. Even if you’re not visiting Hawaii Island, you’ll probably be capable to watch a few of the performances on tv stations all through the Hawaiian Islands. This competition positively makes the information.
Tentatively 20th – Maui – The 28th Annual East Maui Taro Festival
27th – Oahu – Waikiki SPAM Jam Festival
There are another festivals that we’ll proceed to verify for his or her bulletins for 2024.
Hopefully you’ll be able to incorporate one of many above festivals into your trip to the Hawaiian Islands. If not, no worries. There are different alternatives to find out about Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures by ongoing occasions hosted by cities and thru cultural packages at Hawaii buying facilities.
Ongoing Weekly or Month-to-month Cultural Occasions
The next cultural occasions are held all year long both on a weekly or month-to-month foundation.
2nd Saturdays – Kauai – Lihue Saturday Night Market
2nd Sundays – Kauai – Princeville Night Market
4th Sundays – Kauai – Wailua Bay Creators Fair
Fridays – Maui – Maui Friday Town Parties rotating from city to city
Fridays – Kauai – Hanapepe Art Night
One Sunday designated per thirty days – Hawaii, Large Island – Kokua Kailua Village Stroll
Observe that we’d have listed the Kuhio Beach Hula Show, which is held on Tuesdays, Saturdays and the final Sunday of every month at Waikiki Seaside, however this system shouldn’t be presently funded for 2024. We’ll preserve an eye fixed out for developments on this program.
Hawaii Procuring Facilities That Host Cultural Applications
Many buying facilities all through Hawaii host glorious cultural packages. This was an enormous shock to us as we first began visiting Hawaii as our native buying facilities in North Carolina not often supply something of the type for our native tradition. Some typical examples of cultural packages that you simply would possibly discover in Hawaii buying facilities are:
- Music and hula performances
- Lei making
- Studying the ukulele
A number of buying facilities even host small farmers markets, which is yet one more strategy to get to know the locals. At these island farmers markets, you should purchase some regionally grown fruits to take pleasure in in your adventures.
Cultural packages hosted by the buying facilities are typically free to take pleasure in and are ongoing all year long. (After all these buying facilities hope that folks will store and dine within the middle throughout their go to.)
Listed here are Hawaii buying facilities that recurrently host cultural packages:
- Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki, Oahu
- Waikiki Beach Walk in Waikiki, Oahu
- International Market Place in Waikiki, Oahu
- Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, Oahu
- Whalers Village in Kaanapali (Lahaina/Kaanapali) Maui
- Shops at Wailea in Wailea, Maui
- Lahaina Cannery Mall in Lahaina, Maui (All occasion cancelled till additional discover)
- Coconut Marketplace in Kapaa, Kauai
- Kukui Grove Shopping Center in Lihue, Kauai
- Queens’ MarketPlace in Waikoloa Seaside Resort, Hawaii (Large) Island
- Kings’ Shops in Waikoloa Seaside Resort, Hawaii (Large) Island
- Shops at Mauna Lani in Mauna Lani Resort, Hawaii (Large) Island
Different Alternatives to Uncover Hawaiian Tradition
Sure, there are nonetheless extra choices to understand the native tradition.
- Many eating places host dwell music each day. So, that’s a very good alternative to benefit from the native tradition by music. The slack key guitar and ukulele are two devices that Hawaii loves and also you’ll probably take pleasure in.
- Many lodges supply their very own cultural packages for his or her company each day. Verify along with your lodge to search out out what they provide. You would possibly be capable to take hula classes and ukulele classes and make a lei.
Have you ever attended a Hawaii cultural competition or program? Do you’ve gotten plans to verify one out in your upcoming go to?
