Honolulu Festival

This year the event was not as good as last year (2023) so it can't be a covid thing so let's get that out of the way. 1. The Japanese food booths (not the sample booths) did not open at the same time as the event at 10am. Almost all of them weren't open at 11am (an hour after the event started). All of them said the food was still being cooked by the kitchen. Which caused long lines and people waiting for the food to slowly come out throughout the day.2. Communication. They need to have interpreters in the booths to help locals communicate with the Japanese people running the booths because of their limited English vocabulary. If you plan to attend this festival make sure to have a translator app ready in case you want to ask something. I tried asking if there was a recipe for the lobster miso soup which was very difficult. The first guy who was alone in the booth didn't understand the word recipe, so we ran behind the curtain to get a different guy. It took a little while for the second guy to understand I was asking how to prepare it. The whole idea behind the samples is to introduce the products to gauge interests in bringing it in.3. Which leads me to not being able to buy the products. If you are familiar with other events like the Food & New Product show you know that they offer samples and at the same time you can purchase the products. This is not the case here. I wouldn't be as disappointed if I had not seen a sign on one of the tables stating 1pkg for $8.50 or something close to that price. But when I asked they said that the people in charge was not letting them sell. Confused, I asked again stating but you have a sign out.

The Honolulu Festival is Hawai'is premier cultural event. Its goal is to promote mutual understanding, economic cooperation and ethnic harmony, between the people of Hawai'i and the Pacific Rim region. The three day festival takes place in early March, and culminates w/ a parade on Kalakāuā Ave on Sun afternoon, followed by a fireworks show on Waikīkī Beach in the evening. If I am not mistaken, it takes place the weekend before Spring Break, so that all locals are encouraged to attend.We stayed at the Moana, and all traffic was blocked on Luxury Row (Kalakāuā), so we planned accordingly. The street was lined on both sides with viewers, and announcers were strategically located to announce the groups participating. The announcers were also engaging the crowd, asking questions like, "Is this your first Festival?", or "How many times have you attended?". The viewers were vocal, and having a lot of fun.The fireworks show was put on by a local family biz that has been around a long time. I think it is now run by the grandchildren. We watched the show from the Moana, and sat at one of the tables facing the infamous Banyan Tree and beach afterwards. All in all, a great way to soak up local culture, and spend a relaxing Sun afternoon.

Finally attended our first Honolulu Festival, we had a great day, spend about 4 hrs there, nice to see events back in-person. We lucked out we got parking on the ground floor inside one of the conventions rooms (so worth the $15, walk right out the door to the entry to festival). Loved loved loved the festival, highlighting Japanese culture and arts and featuring local made in hawaii vendors our goal was to donate and participate in the genki ala wai click on link for more info: https://genkialawai.org/It was an amazing experience and to hear from the director about the project was so inspiring. We will definitely go assist this project when they have events.Walked every aisle and found some unique and amazing locally made products. Stood in the loooong sake tasting line, was worth the wait, interesting and unique flavors we never knew existed. Our fav was the one we tried from the nagaoka vendor, very smooth. Had only one food concession with 2 Japanese items curry rice and okonomiyaki fries - we ordered one of each and both were super good but the fries was the winnah! Sorry no picture we were standing in sake line eating and drinking Caught some of the acts on stage and interesting to see true Japanese arts, but the best was seeing Crossing Rain on stage. Last we stopped at the Kyoto Marketplace, that was interesting, they only took script and could only buy in increments of $20, so no matter how wisely you shopped you would have a few tickets extra (which we saw people giving away so we gave our 2 extra away, can't buy anything with 2 tickets). Picked up rice crackers, shrimp chips and croquette (these were delish and warm). Finally stop, the front redemption booth, they have a scan code throughout the festival and if you scan all of it you get a a prize, then at the same booth there is a scan code to review the festival and after review you get a chance to spin for a prize, we won honolulu festival shirts from 2020 (the last festival here). Our highlight was seeing the nagaoka fireworks display, they had the actual firework on display and even the mega ball cut so you can see how many balls inside the mega ball. Never seen fireworks of that size and so nice to see how it looks before going into the sky! I can say we walked away with some amazing freebies at the festival. Will definitely go back next year it was a great way to spend a few hours.

Went to watch this parade for the first time in Waikiki (I have only been in it with Taiko Center of the Pacific, never watched it from the street). We went early to get a good spot on Kalakaua Ave. My friend who has been many times said they usually have a bunch of huge high school dance groups from Japan but this time there were no high schools, only universities, and the groups were quite small. There were a few cultural groups from the Philippines, Taiwan, etc, but the parade groups were very spread out, some with long waits in between so people kept leaving. It was ok, hopefully once restrictions ease up in the future, Japan will be able to send more groups.

Fi ally the return of the parade and the other exhibits. Good entertainment and food ,drink booths.A lot of coordination. Between vendors and local entertainment like rain. Games for kids and fun for all ages.

Honolulu Festival is definitely a great event for the whole family. Keiki Games - So many activities for the kids, coloring, water balloons, ring tossing, mini golf, you name it.Craft Fair - Over 100 booths from Japan and Hawaii vendors. This year, there was an exhibition that allows visitors to make fish bowls or chopstick holder. Food booths - Local shops show their stuff.Performances - Live performances of bon dance, hula, hip hop, taiko drumming and more.Parade - Hundreds of thousands people come from Japan to walk in this parade, wearing their cultural outfits and dancing through the streets of Waikiki. In addition, there are special appearances from local cultural groups. Fireworks - A good 15 minutes of fireworks display sponsored by Nagaoka City.

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, so it is with the Honolulu Festival- it's da annual event for Oahu in early March.For 2015:There is a familiarity to the Honolulu Festival because much of it is a repeat of what has been shown in the past- but like Christmas , it is something to look forward to and enjoy. Many of the floats are the same, the timing, set-up, displays and vendors at the convention center are pretty much the same but they always bring some nice wrinkles to the fold to pique one's interest. The exhibitions and programs both inside the main hall and just outside of it are always fun. We lucked out this year and were able to take pictures with some of the parade lanterns.Lots of food items for sale- some food highlights included the "pipe" ice cream cone and the great popcorn flavors of Primo Pop Corn-yum!I have seen it several times before, but the booth showing the fireworks shells always amazes me and the video showing what the several hundred pound "bumboocha" shell can do is truly incredible (this is not the one used in Honolulu)They seemed to have a bigger anime area this year for the fans- lots of interest based on the space and booths devoted to this form of entertainment.Of course the highlight of the festivities is the parade that is held on Sunday late afternoon into the evening. A perfect way to cap a fun weekend in Honolulu.If you missed it this year not to worry, like the swallows, the Honolulu Festival will be back in 2016-yay!

I absolutely love the Honolulu festival and sincerely hope that it's held every year. Hawaii is a multi-cultural place and it's only fitting that we have a multi-cultural festival!For me, born and raised here, it doesn't feel like a show of foreign cultures at all. Consider if you were attending or watching a similar parade in say, the middle of Iowa--for locals, it would feel like an exhibition, a showing of foreign cultures, and a treat in the sense that they get to see outside culture right at home. In comparison, for someone growing up in Hawaii who is of diverse ethnicity and cultures herself (Hawaiian, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Filipino, Etc.), it feels like finally, there is an event that represents local culture in it's entirety.My friends and I try to attend Honolulu Festival every year in our Yukata, which is mainly our festival attire when we attend Japanese festivals. I love participating in bon dance and looking at all the exhibits and watching the parade afterward.Aside from food and crafts/merchants inside the Convention Center, everything else is free. You can get your fortune read in Taiwanese tradition, learn to paint kanji, watch live performances, participate in dances on stage and so much more.I look forward to this every year and just can't wait til the next one!

Awesome vent with all sorts of activities over the weekend and the most spectacular fireworks display to finish the weekend. Thankfully the fireworks can be seen from all over the shoreline, so if you have to make it back to your apt/hotel, make sure you have a view of Waikiki. :)

The best festival you will ever go to. Free admission, so many free samples, and all of the vendors are the nicest people you will ever meet. Highly recommend