Iolani Fair

The 2024 fair had terrible food!! I don't mind paying higher prices because it's a fundraiser but the product should be excellent for this price. The only thing that was good quality was the malasada and the terri cheeseburger. The absolute worst was the noodles. I think it's a really good set up for younger kids and lots of space for them to play and have fun. I saw a lot of families on the grass with chairs/ blankets so great family environment. They just need to up their food game .... They advertise a lot of it as gourmet .... Maybe perfect the basics and start there.

Attended the 2023 Iolani fair for the first time and it was a bit disappointing compared to the Punahou carnival. The fair is definitely smaller than the punahou carnival: less food for sure. The food was a bit disappointing and overpriced. The gumbo is $8 for a tiny bowl with mostly rice. The kalua pork bowl and French fries were too salty. The Greek wrap is nothing green about it: old cold chicken with lettuce. It felt like a waste of money with disappointing food.

Wowzers.Iolani really stepped up their carnival game since my high school days (let's just say it was before they built the parking structure... I don't wanna do the math)! I remembered Iolani Fair to be a small, boring, lackluster event when I was a little girl. Fast forward a couple decades later, and it's grown up! New rides, delicious food, and the convenience of location make it a go-to for me and my family compared to the "bigger" carnival competition (let's be honest, the main reason why I don't go to the Punahou Carnival is bc of the parking, and it always rains). For me personally, I can WALK to Iolani school from my apartment. Whoop whoop! Weather seems to be better and more predictable as well. This year, Iolani had a philly cheesesteak and garlic fries stand that was absolutely sinful. Also, try their hot and fresh poi malasadas... a nice change from the traditional. Scrip are $0.50 a piece, and can be used on food and games. Rides have their own swipe card much like DnBs or Jungle fun. Makes line waiting faster and easier! Rides are similar to other fairs and carnivals, and the kids have a blast! Can't wait to see what next year brings!

The Iolani Family Fair.... what is there to say other than this is a smaller, less crowded version of Punahou carnival? I went in the afternoon on Saturday and there was hardly anyone there. There were no lines for food or rides and the tents were pretty empty. This is great if you don't like crowds, but I feel bad for Iolani, because that means they're not making as much money. I tried the waffle dog, a strawberry Italian soda, a corn, a poi Malasada and took home a small gumbo for the next day. The food is kind of pricey, but honestly pretty good. The gumbo was probably my favorite. It was flavorful and served atop a scoop of white rice. At $4.50, it was decently priced. The strawberry Italian soda from the "gourmet food" booth was my least favorite. For $3.50, it was kind of a rip off. Just strawberry syrup and 7 up with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.... haha. It was Instagram friendly, for sure, as one of the moms working the booth pointed out. She told me to "hashtag Iolani Fair". Thanks, aunty. There were only about 3 or 4 rides and about 10 food booths. The market tent had plants, crafts, jellies, kimchee, a white elephant and the alumni shop. I spotted a baby avocado tree for $45 and a little succulent arrangement for $12, so idk if you're gonna get very good deals here.Would I be back next year, probably. But I will Uber or get someone to drop me off since parking at the nearby elementary school was $15!!!! I heard kaimuki hs was charging $10... haha crazy!

This may sound sad, but this was my first time going to Iolani Fair! My kids are still small which means if they want to ride rides an adult has to go with them which means twice the amount of money! This time we skipped the rides and focused on the games.This fair has their own games, which is really cool! They have some of your popular EK Fernandez games, but a lot of them were different and the kids were excited to play. We got lucky cause we won a soda and a big ball. They give you coupons to redeem at the "store" for assorted prizes which is kinda cool cause the kids can pick what they want. Some prizes were buy one get one free!Rides uses the EK Fernandez card. Food and games uses scripts. It was $.50/script, and everything at any carnival is expensive. Food was ok, we stuck to fried noodles, saimin, hot dog and malasadas.They have porta potty bathrooms and also school bathrooms for use. They even had a silent auction which we didn't check out because having two kids rushing and bugging you isn't worth trying to focus and bid on items.We were lucky and found parking at Ala Wai park...free parking. I heard you can park at Kaimuki High School for $5 and ride the trolley to Iolani. Ala Wai Elementary charges $15 for parking.

Not as crazy or crowded as the Punahou carnival and feels a lot more family friendly if you have much younger kids. Definitely more stroller friendly and the easy nearby parking at Kaimuki HS is a big plus. I think the malasadas are better and it is nice to have the gourmet food options in addition to the regular carnival fare. They even have a lot of places to sit and eat if you need to sit and rest.Activities even included some arts and crafts projects for the kids to work on instead of just playing games and riding rides. Our kids were able to bring home tangible memories and not just the carnival game prizes and a big hole in the wallet...

Ok ok, so it's a little hard for me to admit this, but...I had a FABULOUS time at the Iolani Family Fair last month. =] Yes, it's true. I don't think I've been to the Iolani Fair in about 20 years, ever since they got rid of the rides...& back then, it was ALL about the rides for me, hehehe. 0=) Ironically--now that the rides are finally back--it turns out I'M all about the food!! Oh boy. ;D Oh well, I'm happy for all the teeny-boppers & high schoolers who get to enjoy the rides now...as long as they stay outta my way when I'm making a beeline for the food booths! Having been to lot of school fairs/carnivals this year, I think Iolani's totally carved-out a great niche for themselves...this is hands-down THE most family-friendly fair/carnival I've seen so far!! I LOVED the game tent (all kinds of "homemade EK Fernandez kine" games), and I especially loved that it wasn't wall-to-wall people. I do NOT like crowds or long lines, so I was very pleasantly surprised when we went at 2pm on Saturday...there were a fair amount of people there, but no lines, not crowded at all, & lots of wide open spaces.I really liked the layout of everything, like having the food booths & rides all together on one big field, with the game tent (LOVE IT!!) at the other end. Their track-field featured the entertainment tent (Jordan Segundo happened to be singing when we stopped by, very talented guy), and a super cute "futsal" tournament going on next door. Didn't stop to watch the futsal, but it basically looked like a tiny version of soccer.As for the FOOD...they didn't have any of those "classic" (mainland) carnival foods like funnel cakes or cotton candy--at least from what I saw--but they had TONS of great local choices, which is waaaay better, in my opinion. ;D In the few hours that I got to spend there, I tried the beef stew (delish), chili cheese fries (super yummy), waffle hotdogs (WITH BACON!!), kalua pig & cabbage (so-so, kinda bland), malasadas (totally decent), okinawan noodles (ono!!), corn (so-so, overcooked), kalbi (thin but very tender/tasty), bbq chicken (average), and chicken/sausage gumbo (sooo good!)...phew!!! =D And yes, all I did was walk around and eat the entire time, hehehe. 0=) Even then, I probably only tried about 1/3 of the menu items offered, if that! All in all, I'll definitely be back again, because it was such a well-done event, totally wholesome-feeling--I definitely want to bring all the little nieces & nephews next year-- and it's for a good cause. Not to mention...I never got to try their turkey leg & huli cheesesteaks!!!! ;D Hehehe. But that's not the priority of course. Seriously. Wholesome event! 0=)

Iolani school fair 2015 I was a winner. I love attending this event as it always provide good family entertainment food and fun shopping.This year I went on Friday around 3 o'clock in the afternoon and was able to shop. I found microwave, coasters, and really cute tissue holders, very reasonable price. The assortment of plants they offered was amazing. And once again their gourmet tent and food booths offered so many tasty treats.

No EK Fernadez rides here, but good ole family fun with great food. Tons of live entertainment, food galore, auctions, games, marketplace, bball tounry, talent contest, and free movies on the football field (this year, Despicable Me and Iron Man 2).If there's one thing that makes Iolani Fair better than the Punahou Carnaval, it's the parking! Iolani Fair patrons have the luxury on parking at Kaimuki High School, for a small fee, and walk across the street to Iolani or take a free shuttle. Disclaimer: Reviewer is an alum.

I enjoy supporting schools, so that is one reason why I enjoy coming to the Iolani Fair every year. They have just enough rides, games, food, and market to make the fair an enjoyable and fun one. The food is not amazing, but it's a fair so I don't expect restaurant quality, although I did really enjoy the Fried Noodles. The malasadas was ok, along with the teri cheese burger (it had a cold bun and cold cheese), and waffle hot dog. I am happy that the volunteers were reuniting with maybe classmates that maybe they didn't see for awhile, but then a lot of the volunteers weren't paying attention to the customers, a lot of them were having too much fun playing around or chatting in which causes them to not pay attention to the customers that were standing in front of them to possibly play games or purchase food. But my family and I still enjoyed ourselves, the volunteers were all very friendly, and the games were all fun, and they had a variety of prices. My family will continue to support Iolani as we always still have a lot of fun. It takes a lot to put a fair together, so we are grateful that Iolani works their very best to continue the fair. Plus, parking is food, I loved the parking people, they were so helpful ($5 for parking). And they have a lot of parking with a trolley available to take you to the entrance if needed.