E Kanikapila Kakou celebrating 41st year thegardenisland.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thegardenisland.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The festival came about after Roy Sakuma announced in 2022 that he was retiring after 52 years as the founder and producer of the Ukulele Festival Hawaii.
In Hawaiian culture, a lei is never expected. “It’s always a gift, and it’s an adornment,” said Lahela Spencer, Hawaiian culture specialist at Hilton Waikoloa Village, the host resort of our Meetings Today LIVE! Hawai'i event April 19-22. “It’s not there to match your clothes. It’s not an accessory. It should never be, ‘I’m going to Hawai'i, where’s my lei?’ But because it’s been a part of the industry for so long, it’s become an expectation.”
A symposium on February 11 at the University of Hawai i will highlight an investigation by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on war crimes being committed in the Hawaiian islands.