COURTESY WAIKOLOA BEACH & GOLF RESORT Performers and music lovers will gather on the Big Island March 11 for the Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival with Danny Kaleikini as emcee.

Stage at Kings’ Shops presents Hawaiian cultural activities

Hawaiian cultural activities take place at Kings' Shops' Center Stage throughout the year. All are free unless otherwise noted. The following schedule is subject to change. Call 808-886-8811 for more information.

» Sundays: Hawaiian feather work, 11:30 a.m. ($5)
» Mondays: Ukulele lesson, 11:30 a.m.
» Tuesdays: Umeke (bowl) making, 11:30 a.m. ($10), and palaie (loop and ball game) making ($5), 12:30 p.m.
» Wednesdays: Ipu making, 11:30 a.m. ($10), and hula lesson, 12:30 p.m.
» Thursdays: Coconut fiber bag making ($10), 11:30 a.m.
» Fridays: Coconut frond weaving, 11:30 a.m.
» Saturdays: Lei-making lesson and display of Hawaiian arts and crafts, including leis, lau hala hats and uliuli (feathered gourd rattle), 11:30 a.m.

Hawaiian music and/or hula performances are also presented at 6 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, and at 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Guided one-hour tours of the nearby petroglyph fields are offered weekdays at 10:30 a.m. and weekends at 8:30 a.m.

Guided one-hour native Hawaiian plant tours are available weekdays at 11:30 a.m.

Construction is under way on the Queens' MarketPlace & Cultural Gardens, a new 28-acre, 135,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center adjacent to the Kings' Shops. A focal point will be the Waikoloa Cultural Gardens, spotlighting native plants and significant Big Island crops such as Kona coffee and macadamia nuts.

The gardens also will feature several cul-de-sacs dedicated to the ethnic groups that make up the Aloha State's melting pot, including the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and, of course, Hawaiians. Their stories will be told through placards, statues, monuments and displays.

At Queens' MarketPlace, visitors will be able to enjoy performances beside a domed open-air pavilion, at a 4,000-seat outdoor amphitheater and in a 10,097-square-foot studio that will double as a venue for music and dance lessons.