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Hawaii’s Back yard Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi |
COURTESY PHOTO
Nonstop music, great food and Hawaiian culture attract as many as 10,000 people to the Waikii Music Festival on the Big Island.
Waikii fest is isle
music's WoodstockEd Yap describes the Big Island's two-day Waikii Music Festival as the Woodstock of Hawaiian music.
"Nowhere else will you see as many big-name local entertainers in one place," he said. "At the Waikii Ranch Polo Grounds, you're 4,000 feet up the slopes of Mauna Kea. It's a spectacular open-air venue. There are no buildings in sight -- just trees, cattle and rolling green pasture. Ten thousand people come to listen to nonstop music, eat good food and learn about the Hawaiian culture. It doesn't get any better than that."
Yap and his wife, Nani, have been spearheading the festival since 1998. Nani is a member of the famed Lim Family, which has often performed at the event.
Launched in 1990, the festival has been held on Father's Day weekend every year except 1996, making this the 13th annual event. Headliners include new Na Hoku Hanohano Award winners Na Palapalai and Raiatea Helm, plus Owana Salazar, Willie K, Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, Sean Na'auao, and Jerry Santos and Olomana.
"The Waikii Ranch homeowners wanted to give back to the community by offering the use of their polo field for a music festival," says Yap. For many years the festival benefited Moku O Keawe, a Big Island canoe racing association. Now a portion of the proceeds goes to Punana Leo O Waimea Hawaiian Language Immersion Preschool and the Hawaii High School Rodeo Association.
According to Yap, beneficiaries must be a nonprofit organization located in North or West Hawaii, and they must be approved by the homeowners association.
Yap bills the Waikii Music Festival as a family event, and to that end there will be games galore, including rock-climbing walls; Paintball Heaven, where participants use Paintball guns to shoot moving targets in an enclosed setting; and the Bungee Run, during which two players in separate lanes are strapped at the waist with bungee cords.
"They run as fast and as hard as they can to dunk the ball into a basketball net before they're pulled back by the cords," says Yap. "It's great fun to see how they meet the challenge!"
CRAFT DEMONSTRATIONS by distinguished island artisans always draw crowds. This year's lineup features Mary Lou Kekuewa and Paulette Kahalepuna (feather work), Elizabeth Maluihi Lee (lau hala weaving), Margaret Machado (lomilomi massage), Barbara and Kalehua Meheula (hala leis), Lloyd Kumulaau Sing (ieie weaving), Mel Kahokuloa Lantaka (flower, seed and shell leis), Dennis Keawe (pahu, or drums) and Albert Moniz (Hawaiian saddles).
A two-for-one promotion made possible with the kokua of Kraft Foods makes the event even more enticing. Shop at any Big Island KTA, purchase five qualifying Kraft products and you'll receive a coupon good for two-for-one Waikii Music Festival tickets.
Comedian Rodney Villanueva has emceed the event for the past eight years. "There's nothing like it," he says. "First of all, getting there is an experience. You have to drive on Saddle Road, with all of its turns, bumps and dips. It's a relaxing drive because you can't do it fast; you just have to follow the car in front of you. You see all these cars on the road, and you know where everybody is headed.
"The polo field is huge, with beautiful, soft green grass," he said. "You can walk around barefooted and not get cut by anything. The sun is out but there's a nice cool breeze.
"In the afternoon the mist rolls in, it gets chilly and people put on their sweaters and jackets. If you're selling hot chocolate, you'll make big money."
Last year, one man came to the festival with an old couch, Villanueva recalls. "He hauled it from his truck to the polo field and back to his truck because everyone has to leave the place at night -- and he came back the next day with the couch. It was cute; he knew he was going to be sitting a long time, and he wanted to be comfortable."
Two years ago one of the bands didn't show up on time, so Villanueva and a handful of other entertainers formed a makeshift group on the spot. "We had Sonny and Lorna Lim from the Lim Family, Harold Kama Jr., a guy sitting in on drums from another group and another guy from another band playing keyboards," he says. "It was amazing how we pulled together and gelled.
"We played for 45 minutes until the other group came, and nobody knew we had replaced them. We sounded so good, the audience thought we were a scheduled group. That shows the caliber of the performers who play at the Waikii Music Festival. When things like that happen, everybody knows what they have to do. They sing their part, they play from the heart and nobody expects to get paid."
One festival featured Kalapana, a band that first hit the top of the local charts in the 1970s. "They took the stage and it was magic," says Villanueva. "It seemed like every person in the crowd was singing every song that they played."
When the spirit moves them, spectators start dancing wherever they are -- dozens at a time. "It's incredible," Villanueva says. "Chicken skin!"
If you haven't been to the Waikii Music Festival and are thinking about going, Villanueva urges you to "try it for a day. Guaranteed you'll be back on Sunday."
Waikii Music Festival
Place: Waikii Ranch Polo Grounds on the Big IslandWhen: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and June 15
Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the gates. Children under 12 are free. Tickets are available at Aama Surf and Sport in Kailua-Kona; Border's Music, Books and Cafˇ in Hilo and Kona; Big Island Surf Company in Hilo, Kailua-Kona and Kamuela; Byrd's Audio in Kamuela; CD Wizard in Hilo; Cook' s Discoveries in Kamuela; Exclusive Designs in Waikoloa; Mele Kai Music in Kailua-Kona; MJS Music in Hilo; Pahoa Cash and Carry in Pahoa; The Gallery at Bamboo in Kohala; Taro Patch Gifts in Honokaa; and KTA stores. Tickets also can be ordered in advance by phone for pick up at the gate's will call booth.
Call: (808) 883-2077
Web site: www.waikiimusic.com
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer
and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
