HONOLULU (KHON2) — Many exciting cultural events are happening around Honolulu from Festival Village at FestPAC to the King Kamehameha Parade and Pan Pacific Festival.
“I’ve been involved in each event over the last few months and I love it, it’s all coming together, sharing dumpsters, sharing groups, ideas, parking signs, etc.,” explained Kainoa Daines, King Kamehameha Celebration Commission Chair. “It’s a cohesive weekend but also chaotic, so enjoy!”
The 13th annual Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture is underway with events happening across Oahu, but the main event will be at the Hawaii Convention Center with Festival Village showcasing 27 hale from each delegation.
“It’s the home of the festival for the entire ten days and it becomes a home for these nations, it becomes a hale for them to show off all day every day what they do,” said Makanani Sala, FestPAC Director of Operations.
The event will last for ten days for the public to check out between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In addition to FestPAC, the Pan Pacific Festival with Hoolaulea will return to Kalakaua Avenue on Friday.
“Come down and enjoy, we’ll have over 50 vendors, food, all lined up and down Kalakaua Avenue,” said Alan Kinuhata, Pan Pacific Festival spokesperson. “It’s going to be a big festival event.”
Portions of Kalakaua will be closed throughout the weekend. On Saturday, the 107th King Kamehameha Celebration Floral Parade will begin at 9 a.m.
The parade starts at Iolani Palance and ends on Kalakaua Avenue.
Streets are expected to close downtown around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and will close as the parade moves down the route.
The King Kamehameha Celebration will be at Kapiolani Park from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On Sunday, the Pan Pacific will wrap up its events with a big parade beginning at For DeRussy Park at 5 p.m. and ending at Kapiolani Park around 7 p.m.
“We’re looking at about 800 to 1,000 people from Japan,” Kinuhata added. “We heard there’s a group booked on the tour with travel agency who will be participating at Bon Dance part of Hoolaulea later tonight, so we’re very excited about this.”