I attended the 71st annual Ho'olaule'a in Waikīkī on Sat, 9/20. They block off most of Kalākaua…read moreavenue for vendors, stages for music and for food. We ate at Dick's Lechon. I had Dick's before at another festival, and really enjoyed the food. The stand was hard to miss bc of the smoke wafting and a choke (long) line. Luckily, the line moved quickly. Despite a quick shower, there was plenty of music. One of the groups was family members of Moani in IMP. They are a reggae group, and had the crowd moving to the reggae vibes. I saw a lot of vendors doing biz, so hats off to the crowd for supporting local businesses. I'll have to remember the timing of this festival, so I can enjoy it again.

A first for us as we used to only come for the parade and sit across the Moana. Hubs was very…read moreexcited so he spent about half an hour browsing what was happening on Kalakaua while I got banded and waited at the one day only Beer Garden sponsored by the Aloha Festival. Parking was convenient at the International Market Place. We came for the 6 pm special . We got a few freebies laid on the tabletops and spent $20 on two virgin drinks to get an item hubs wanted badly. Hubs returned all happy saying he bought an Aloha Festival tshirt. He excitedly shared there were craft booths. Concerned about an upcoming trip I told him I'll pass cuz I have Covid phobia, haven't caught Covid yet and maybe next year I'll brave that celebratory crowd. Instead of enjoying the merriment or getting dinner at one of several restaurants upstairs we inserted out stickered parking ticket and left Waikiki. Choice A: Side Street Inn but I pulled a fast one and drove towards King Street, University Avenue area and found an awesome place for dinner.

For this year's annual trip, we decided to visit during the week of the Honolulu Festival, which…read moretook place on March 13th-15th. Having been to Honolulu over the years, we never had the chance to partake in the festival activities. I had always thought the Festival was an event promoting Hawaiian culture but from being here, I found out his was the 30th year for this cultural event that promotes mutual understanding, economic cooperation and ethnic harmony between the people of Hawaii and the Pacific Rim region. Over 2,300 participants from Japan and other countries were here to participate in this Festival with events at the Convention Center, Ala Moana Shopping Center and Waikiki Beach Walk. I went to the Saturday events at the Convention Center. On the main performance stage, there were 25 various performance acts of traditional, dance, musical cheerleading, and a singing performance by Hitomi Shimitani to conclude. There were art and craft vendors and a sake and food fest section with free sample offerings. Love the sake and beer tastings, cookie and cracker tastings and a sushi making workshop. Due to the Kona storms that hit Hawaii during this week, I was disappointed that the Grand Parade and the Nagaoka Fireworks to conclude the festival were cancelled. I will plan to be back again next year for this Festival and look forward to the Parade and famous fireworks.

This year admission for adults was $10 at the door ($8 online)…read more In the past, especially last year, there were many food sample booths offering samples of different Japanese food products with none of them offering any for sale. But this year there were no samples, only food for sale, so there was no way to try it before buying which would have been helpful.

This is the 2nd time I went to MIH (Made in Hawaii) and this time was better (personally for me)…read more Here are two tips I highly recommend BEFORE you attend. 1. Plan to go later in the day I went around 2:00ish and the line to get in was only 5 minutes long. I also bought my tickets ahead time to expedite the process of getting checked in. 2. DO YOUR RESEARCH I highly recommend researching which vendors are going and what booth they will be at. Once you get that information, look at the map and make a route. Then once you hit all the places you want to go to you can explore. I feel like people get so overwhelmed from not knowing where to go.. So honestly, just research ahead of time and make your life easier!! I kind of wish they made time-slots like during COVID time to avoid overcrowding, but I guess to each their own.

I live in Hawaii, so what is the point of going to the MADE IN HAWAII Festival?…read more Right??? Took place in the Honolulu Convention Center this year. Tickets were $8/adult. Thought I'd save on online service fees by purchasing in person, but it was CARD ONLY, and still had to pay the extra fees! What's the point of having people there then? Parking wasn't available at the Convention Center. But that's okay cause even available, $15 parking fee is steep. Just park at Ala Moana and walk over. There were quite a lot of vendors, and it was crowded. The middle sections were quite tight and just not enough space for people trying to walk through, and for people who were shopping. I can't count how many times you're just stopped and waiting to go around because someone in front stopped to look (while some just stopped to talk and didn't have any consideration that they're in the middle of the aisle and in the way of everyone). Overall, it's a nice event for vendors to showcase their products, and $8 tickets is a good deal for convention center events. I purchased several items, with some I found being sold in regular stores (and for less), but discovered new products that were very good, such as the Aloha Bakehouse coffee and homemade Spicy Chili Oil from Maui.

If there's anything that I need for a Filipino dish, I'm pretty sure Festival has it. Looking for…read moreTupig? They got it. Need Ilocos Empanada? Get there early because when I visited, they sold out. They've got some real fresh seafood, beautiful and plentiful. The food court area has anything you'd imagine for a quick lunch and their desserts from every vendor was delicious. I was able to get all the veggies, protein, and sauces in one place and each vendor was so friendly and helpful. Parking is kind of tough 'cause the days that get busy, I've found myself parked down the street. Otherwise, the whole area is clean, open spaced, and easy to find anything you'd need.

Limited parking. Great selection of fresh vegetables. Freshly made food. Clean restrooms. No…read moreshopping carts.

Make a plan for Spam Jam. That's my advice to get the most out of this event. It's always fun, but…read moreit gets crowded quickly, so what I do is look at the list of vendors and check out what they'll be offering ahead of time. I even go to their Instagram because a lot of times they will show pictures and describe the items in more detail. So then I have a plan going into Spam Jam of the things that are must-eat and then the "maybe I'll get this if I have room" stuff. This year, I really wanted funnel cakes, which had been listed online as part of the menu, but when I got to that vendor's tent, there were no funnel cakes, just spiral potatoes, gandules, and some other things. So no funnel cake for me. I kind of hate when the listing online shows things that will be there that are not even offered when you get there. I did get delicious hula pie topped with candied Spam from Duke's along with a teriyaki katsu sandwich from Duke's, which was interesting because it had both pineapple tidbits as well as raisins (?!) but the raisins kind of oddly worked. My favorite was Il Gelato's caramel Spam gelato topped with Spam toffee, which was delicious! There are several Il Gelato locations near my place so I will be checking them out later on for sure. I also enjoyed birria tacos from Skybox Taphouse. I got the queso birria tacos for $9 for 2 tacos, which I thought was reasonable. My husband got the two "hellfire" tacos for $14 which were (1) too hot for me and (2) I couldn't tell why they were $5 more than my tacos. Other than the heat and including two large jalapenos, I couldn't tell what inside them merited a $5 increase. A fun time hopefully had by all. We enjoyed our celebratory day of Spam!

A great event, with lots of retail and food booths, supported by specialty Spam dishes at various…read morerestaurants, roaming photo ops, entertainment, and happy people. Hawai'i Foodbank also thanks everyone for their support! We arrived a tad late, it was a busy day - so we just missed the drone show, and most spam specialties were sold out. Those that weren't still had long lines, so YAY it was a success! This was our first time at the Waikiki Spam Jam, and we were happy to miss the super big crowd. We just wanted to check this out, and we're very glad we did! Mahalo to all the volunteers, vendors, security, and HPD for helping create and make this a wonderful and safe event for everyone to enjoy!!!

Memories... We all…read morehave them and we all cherish them in many different ways. How can we celebrate...express...share or just release them. I think we are so blessed to have such even every Memorial Day to a point that I see visitors who come here just for this and that says a lot. With work I personally never have the moment to participate as you need to line up early to pick up a lantern I was fortunate enough that a friend did that for me and here I am nervous and emotional not knowing where to begin. I think that's the therapy as well to express yourself in grief, anger, or sadness as I watched my lantern float away to a point that I don't know which on it is amongst the many others just looking at the serene vibe standing in the water is a sense of calm. Thank you to Shinnyo En for this massive arrangement as it takes much more than a village to take care of this massive arrangement and know that it helps many, myself included that we are never alone in this. Thank you!

The lantern floating ceremony is one of the most spectacular event you can attend in Honolulu,…read moreHawaii. It take place at the Ala Moana Beach Park. This event is to memory the loss of someone in your life, They give out free lanterns. It is first come first serve, so you have to get there early in the morning to reserve it. Last year, I got there at 5 AM to stand in line, the ceremony start at around 6:30PM. After the official program, all the attendances can start release the lanterns after the sunset. It is a pretty emotional event, but also spectacular to watch with thousands of lanterns floating on the water. It is such an amazing scene if you never attend this ceremony before, I highly recommend you to go to experience it.

Celebrating Okinawan culture in Honolulu, Hawaii…read more.. This year, the 42nd Annual Okinawan Festival was held at the Hawaii Convention Center on Saturday and Sunday, August 31, and September 1, 2024. Admission fee was $10 for adults; $5 for seniors (age 65+); and free for children age 12 and below We parked for free at Ala Moana Center and walked over. I really didn't want to go. I used to work at the Festival when I was a member of the Hawaii United Okinawan Association (HUOA) because I played in their volleyball league. Our volleyball league ran the Children's Game Booths at Kapiolani Park. We had to get there early to set up and stay late to clean up. It was labor intensive! I have stress just remembering those times... My former co-worker really wanted to go to the Festival. She had purchased A LOT of script from her neighbor who was part of the Live Entertainment. My friend texted me several times and called me to discuss where to meet. She bribed me to go by telling me she was going to give me some script and pay for my Admission Fee... LOL! So... I went... It wasn't as bad as I remembered! The air conditioning, convenient restrooms, and excellent organization made it pleasant! Maybe the challenge was the line for script. There seemed to be only one place to buy script, and it was far away from the food booths. My friend had so much script that she sold some to strangers on our table - she overheard their conversation! As a visitor to the Festival (not as a worker), I was able to wander through the Craft Area, walk past the plants for sale and the Children's Games, stand in line for food, browse through the Country Store, and enjoy the Live Entertainment! It was nice that there were tables and chairs for customers to sit and dine-in! We didn't sign up for the special art demonstration where you can make traditional art... maybe we can do that next year!

Celebrating the culture…read more.. No one does it like the Okinawan Festival as this year they've done it again and what an amazing event. Keeping at the Hawaii Convention Center is a real struggle to get to though the cool air conditioned venue with lots of seating provided to watch the entertainment and to enjoy your foodie feast does make it a fun and festive place to celebrate it all. In the past it has been outdoors at Kapiolani Park which in my opinion was much more difficult to enjoy it all so this is a refreshing chance of scenery and this year it's all in one level so you don't need to find the various rooms upstairs to shop for the merchandise and view the historic background of it all. The countless volunteers and groups made it a fun for all ages as we actually wanted to play some of the children's games shows how fun it truly was. I did get to peek in the Awamori Garden which was lovely oasis to get an adult sip along with some exclusive snacks found only in that area though with countless areas to browse including the craft section it was a great experience and can't wait for 2025. Thank you!

When I was in Las Vegas a few months ago, The Love Festival was called to my attention because of…read moreall the unusual costumes. There were many young women dressed in tutus, neon colors, floral garlands, headbands, fuzzy leg warmers, stuffed animal backpacks, and short shorts. Automobiles with license plates from different states were also decorated with neon paint and the words "Love Festival". At that time, I was busy studying at a conference, so I didn't have time to check it out. Thanks to Yelp Hawaii and our outstanding CM, Emi, my friends and I were able to obtain free tickets to the Hawaii Love Festival at Kakaako Waterfront Park! It was a fun and educational experience! I did not know that this Festival has been around for 16 years! I did not know that there were 4 different stages (we only sat at one). I did not know that tickets ranged from $40 to $50, $60, $75 and $125 for VIP. The Event was to start at 7pm. My friends and I jumped in to one car and caught a ride to the Park. There was a line already formed before 6:45pm. We read the signs that no food was allowed. Being the good, thrifty Pakes, we quickly devoured the food we had packed and drank our bottled water. However, free water was distributed inside the Festival to prevent dehydration. We didn't really need the water because there was a cool, gentle breeze and the sun had gone down by that time. The line moved along at a steady pace. The first security stop was for ticket collection. We got our first wrist band there. They also searched our bags for food and weapons. We were all asked for our ID's at the next stop. The people under 21 went through a separate line and the rest of us received a second wrist band. Very organized!! Inside, there were many vendors selling snacks, caps, shirts, neon items, shades, etc. We found a safe place on a grassy hill and sat on our towels and beach mats. We were able to observe all the great dance moves by the audience and the awesome scaffolded stage-like structure. It was a huge cube-like audio-visual smoke machine with colorful lighting. The young people sang along to songs I had never heard! Hahaha! Overall, we had a great time and we would go again next year! Thanks again to Emi and Yelp Hawaii for this special opportunity!!

When I first heard about this festival I thought I would not being going. The idea of spending a…read morelot on a ticket and being unsure if it'd be worth it is not one of my favorite thoughts. Thank you to Yelp for the tickets, I went and thoroughly enjoyed myself! I would definitely go back in the future. To start, this event was in my favorite park in Honolulu, Kaka'ako near Ward Centres and right on the waterfront. The hills made the perfect venue to have multiple stages that didn't interfere (sound-wise) with one another. Walking toward the park that night, I could hear music and see multi-colored spotlights shining on the clouds. The entrance was organized and there were plenty of bouncers to point the way. There was practically no line to get in. Tickets were also available for purchase at the door. My guest and I spent the majority of the time in the 21+ section, which had a full service bar including special cocktails for the event. The portions ended up being generous and the bartenders were very fun and friendly. The main stage was a visual feast- bright colors, smoke, lasers, and bubble machines. Some DJs were better than others- I liked the guy from Amsterdam the best. There was free water available, and countless portapotties in the center of the park- I never had to wait, always many open. The park's many grassy areas offered plenty of places to stand, dance, or lay down and watch the stars. The ocean was close as well. All in all, I loved this event; it's great for people of all ages and interests!