MOANALUA GARDENS FOUNDATION The Prince Lot Hula Festival is Hawaii's oldest, largest noncompetitive outdoor hula event.

Hips and shady trees
hold sway at Moanalua

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By Keiko Kiele Akana-Gooch
kakana-gooch@starbulletin.com

Bring your beach mat and lawn chairs to the Moanalua Gardens tomorrow and enjoy free hula performances by world-renowned hula teachers and their students at the 25th annual Prince Lot Hula Festival.

Under the vast, encompassing shade of the gardens' monkeypod trees, watch as the halau of Coline Aiu, Robert Cazimero, Leina'ala Kalama Heine, Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett and Leimomi Ho grace the grassy hula mound from 10 a.m. to noon. Na Keiki O Ka 'Aina O Punahou, winners of the Hawaii Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition, will also perform in the morning.

The grand list of participating kumu hula continues with the halau of Olana Ai, William Sonny Ching, Hokulani De Rego, Mapuana de Silva and Vicky Holt Takamine taking stage from 1 to 3:30 p.m.

The kumu hula will take part in a special tribute at noon, when they will be asked to dance hula in honor of all the kumu who have participated in the 25-year-old festival.

Prince Lot Hula Festival Where: Moanalua Gardens When: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow Admission: Free Call: 839-5334

The Prince Lot Hula Festival is Hawaii's oldest and largest noncompetitive outdoor hula event.

Those with interests beyond dance can also enjoy cultural demonstrations of traditional Hawaiian games, lauhala weaving, and ipu- and kapa-making, and stroll through an exhibit featuring native Hawaiian artwork and quilts.

Be sure to have some cash on hand for Hawaiian arts and crafts, festival T-shirts, leis, plate lunches, shave ice and beverages.

The Moanalua Gardens Foundation honors Kamehameha V, Prince Lot Kapuaiwa, for reviving hula in the Moanalua area in the 19th century. The prince's summer cottage still stands in Moanalua Gardens.

Parking for the festival is at Tripler Medical Center's lower parking lot, where you can catch a free ride to and from the festival. Or try your luck parking at Moanalua Gardens, Moanalua Elementary and Intermediate schools, or the surrounding neighborhood.

As in the previous years, the event -- sponsored by the Moanalua Gardens Foundation -- is expected to attract about 10,000 Hawaii residents and visitors.

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