July 17: Hawaii celebrates 33rd Annual Prince Lot Hula Festival

Held each third Saturday in July over the past three decades, the Prince Lot Hula Festival has grown into the largest non-competitive hula festival in Hawaii.

Each year the festival welcomes kumu hula and their halau from throughout the islands including well-known teachers such as Robert Uluwehi Cazimero, Coline Aiu, Maelia Lobenstein Carter, Michael Casupang, and Vicky Holt Takamine.

Events include a new special presentation of traditional Hawaiian Lua, a martial arts exhibit, and demonstration.

The hula festival celebrates hula kahiko, ancient hula and chant, and hula auana, the modern hula performances as well. Dancers will perform on one of the few remaining pa hula in Hawaii. A pa hula is an earthen hula mound that has been blessed in a Hawaiian tradition.

Festival entertainment also includes the Kamehameha Schools Men’s Alumni Glee Club and a concert by the Royal Hawaiian Band. Throughout the day, Hawaiian food and refreshments are available including plate lunches, sandwiches, shave ice, and soft drinks. Prince Lot Hula Festival t-shirts and souvenir buttons will also be on sale. Proceeds from merchandise and membership sales benefit MGF programs.

The entrance is by Prince Lot Hula Festival buttons at the gate. The buttons are available for $5 donation to MGF. Local residents, military, and visitors are welcome and encouraged to bring their own beach chairs and mats and enjoy the fun, food, and festivities under the shady monkey pod trees of Moanalua Gardens.

No commercial photography is allowed. Festival sponsors and supporters include the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Tourism Authority, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, the Hawaii State Legislature, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. A non-profit organization founded in 1970, Moanalua Gardens Foundation (MGF) is committed to preserving and perpetuating the native culture, environment, and people of Hawaii.

For more information, visit http://www.mgf-hawaii.org/HTML/Hula/princelothulafestival.htm.