Hawaiian-themed festival offers free look at island life and culture
They don’t call Las Vegas the “Ninth Island” for nothing. And, this weekend, Southern Nevada’s ample contingent of Hawaii expatriates — as well as wannabe Hawaii tourists — can revel in Hawaii’s primal pull at the Prince Kuhio Ho’olaule’a Festival.
The event, which returns to the Henderson Events Plaza Saturday and Sunday, will feature Hawaiian and Pacific Island music, food, dance and crafts.
Best of all: Admission is free, notes Tamar Hoapili, president of the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club, which organizes the event in cooperation with the city of Henderson.
Hoapili says the festival was created 21 years ago as a celebration of Hawaiian and Pacific Island culture.
Last year’s festival attracted about 45,000 people who arrived from locales that included California, Utah, Arizona, Washington and, even, Hawaii.
It seems, Hoapili explains about the latter, that many Hawaiian residents find the annual festival a handy excuse to plan a Las Vegas vacation.
Festival guests may partake of authentic Hawaiian, Pacific Island and Asian foods; purchase arts and crafts items from vendors; watch performances by dance teams, musicians and hula schools; and try their hand at a variety of Hawaiian-flavored activities.
Headlining the festival’s slate of musical entertainment will be Holunape, an award-winning group that sings and plays traditional and contemporary Hawaiian songs.
The entertainment schedule also will include performances by several Southern Nevada vocal, music and dance groups.
In the Na Mea Village, guests can learn firsthand about such authentic Hawaiian arts and crafts as stringing leis, making kukui nut key chains and kapa stamping.
The goal of such activities, Hoapili says, is “to bring our culture and our traditions alive. And it’s all free. You don’t have to pay to participate.”
A portion of festival proceeds funds the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club’s scholarship program, which so far has distributed more than $55,000 to valley students, Hoapili says.
In fact, Hoapili notes that, while such things as vendor fees help to cover the costs of staging the festival, scholarship proceeds are raised through the club’s own booths. Visitors who wish to contribute to the scholarship effort can buy raffle tickets and patronize the club-run beverage and shaved ice booths.
The Prince Kuhio Ho’Olaule’a Festival’s complimentary admission gives families the chance to enjoy an affordable, but still fun and educational, day out at minimal cost, Hoapili notes.
“It just goes back to what the purpose of the festival is: It’s to share our culture with Southern Nevada,” she explains. “And we really want to try to keep that tradition as much as we can.”
Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.