Every Spring, Hilo comes alive during the annual Merrie Monarch Festival—an internationally-acclaimed celebration of Hawaii’s most beloved art form, the hula. Three nights of exhilarating competition unite a total of 28 men’s and women’s hula halau (groups) from across the Hawaiian Islands and the continental U.S. this year, alongside visiting dancers from Asia and Polynesian […]
Last week, while the Merrie Monarch Festival’s competitive hula dancers performed, the festival’s Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair drew crowds into two buildings on Hilo’s Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium grounds. Dozens of invited vendors offered uniquely Hawaiian products—teas and body tinctures of Hawaiian plants, abundant flower and shell lei, even copies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, translated
Leomana Turalde is a hula dancer for Kawailiʻulā, a hālau (hula school) in Kailua, Oʻahu. Turalde is from Keaukaha on Hawaiʻi Island. I love when the clock hits eight on that Merrie Monarch Sunday. It’s such a freeing feeling. The first shot of adrenaline for the week. By this time I’m usually 30 minutes deep
*This story was updated on Apr. 14, 2025. Each spring, the Edith Kanakaʻole Stadium on Hawaiʻi Island roars with exhilaration and pride as thousands of footsteps announce the arrival of hula’s most prestigious event. The same way that sports fans worship championship games during peak season, avid hula fans consider the Merrie Monarch Festival
