Kauai Music Festival 2010
The Kaua’i Music Festival is a 4-day celebration of the art & craft of songwriting held from Wednesday, July 28 to Saturday, July 31, 2010. It provides attendees unprecedented access to some of the most successful songwriters and A&R executives working in the business today.
This festival is about helping aspiring songwriters to write a better song, to find the words to express those personal feelings in a way that can touch others. Attendees cover a vast range of genres, age, experience, and they travel here from all over the world. The genres of past attendees spanned from rock, pop, R&B, country, and Hawaiian.
Each year The Kaua’i Music Festival brings some of the best talent from Hawai’i together with some of the best talent from the U.S. mainland for two nights of entertainment.
Po’alima Concert
Friday, July 30, 6 – 9 pm
Kevin Griffin (of Better Than Ezra)
David Pack (of Ambrosia)
Bonnie McKee (Indie Artist who portrayed Janis Joplin in NBC’s American Dreams Series)
Jason Blume (Songwriter with cuts on over 50 million albums worldwide)
Jeff Dayton (Toured with Kenny Chesney)
Plus performances by the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place songwriter contest winners
Pau Hana Concert
Saturday, July 31, 6 – 9 pm
O’Brian Eselu and his Award-Winning Hula Halau “Ke Kai O Kahiki”
Rev. Dennis Kamakahi
Charles Brotman
Kenneth Makuakane and The Pandanus Club
Plus performances by the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place songwriter contest winners
Koloa Plantation Days History
Koloa Plantation Days is a celebration of Hawaii’s heritage and its sugar industry. In 1835, the Old Sugar Mill of Koloa became the first commercially successful sugar plantation in Hawaiʻi, and the beginning of what would become Hawaii’s largest industry. Although the mill and fields are idle in Koloa, many people in Hawaii are former workers or descendants of plantation workers who came from many different ways of life. Koloa Plantation Days brings people to Kauai’s South shore to celebrate aspects of the plantation lifestyle that we are still connected to.
Sugarcane was a canoe plant brought to Hawaii by voyagers, and raised by ancient Hawaiians on small personal plots. Much later 980 acres were leased from King Kamehameha III and large-scale commercial production began. The plantation was established here due to the overall fertility of the soil, proximity to a good port, and location near running water for processing power. By 1837, the mill produced over 4,000 pounds of sugar and 700 gallons of molasses.
It takes approximately 5 million gallons of water per acre to bring a crop of sugar ready to harvest during a two-year growing cycle. Just 20% of that amount comes from rain so the pioneer sugar planters solved water shortages by building irrigation systems that included aqueducts (1856), artesian wells (1879), and tunnels and mountain wells (1898).
In 1985, a 150 year celebration of plantation lifestyle was held in Koloa, and became the beginning of Koloa Plantation Days. This festival offers events that entertain as well as educate participants about old Hawaii and the plantation days. Displays of trains, field equipment, clothing, lamps, items of everyday camp life, photos, and other artifacts are displayed. Hawaiian games, historic videos, guided walks, cooking demonstrations, and historic displays throughout Koloa are a few of these entertaining and enlightening opportunities to get families involved in Koloa’s heritage.
Koloa Plantation Days Schedule 2010
Koloa will celebrate its Plantation Days with over twenty-five events during nine days of family fun. The festival brings Kauai together to learn about Koloa’s multicultural history, experience a diverse range of local foods, culture and activities, explore the area’s unique geology, ecology, and archaeology, and enjoy the warm hospitality of the south shore’s resorts and venues.
Saturday – July 17
Historic Hapa Trail Walk & Beach Lunch
Sunset Ho‘olaulea
Sunday – July 18
Miniature Golf Tournament
Paddle Fest
Monday – July 19
Makawehi Sand Dune Walk
Historic Video Night & Sugar Exhibit
Tuesday – July 20
Koloa Plantation Days Craft Fair
Hula Implements of Hawai‘i
Ethnic Cooking Demo & Tasting
Polynesian Revue & Fire Dancer
Wednesday – July 21
Maha‘ulepu Coastal Hike
Traditional Hawaiian Games
Kaua‘i Culinary Challenge Finals & Dining
Thursday – July 22
Walk Through the Sugar Era at Old Kōloa Mill
Kiahuna Aloha Putting Contest at Kiahuna Golf Club
Lu‘au Buffet Dinner & Show
Friday – July 23
Maha‘ulepu Watercolor Class
Preliminary Roping
Talk Story: Sweet Memories of Old Koloa
Old Koloa Town Historical Walk
Family Movie Night
Saturday – July 24
Annual Historic Parade & Park Celebration
Preliminary Roping
“Sweet Memories” Annual Parade and Festival
Sunday – July 25
TriKaua‘i Triathlon & Fun Run/Walk
11th Annual Plantation Days Rodeo
More details of each event on our Kauai Events Calendar.
Koloa Plantation Days 2010
Nine days may not be enough time to complete all the activities slated for Koloa Plantation Days 2010. This huge festival from July 17 to 25 in the Koloa-Poipu area of Kauai will celebrate its historic plantation era where Hawaii’s first sugar plantation was built in 1835.
Over twenty events will honor the plantation heritage, the many ethnic groups that came to work on sugar plantations, and the Hawaiians who welcomed them. You will experience a diverse range activities, cultures, sports, live music, and local foods, as well as the opportunity to explore the area’s unique flora, fauna, geology, and archaeology.
Festival activities include:
- Historic Hapa Trail Walk
- Sunset Ho‘olaulea
- Paddle Fest
- Makawehi Sand Dune Walk
- Historic Video Night & Sugar Exhibit
- Koloa Plantation Days Craft Fair
- Ethnic Cooking Demo & Tasting
- Polynesian Revue & Fire Dancer
- Maha‘ulepu Coastal Hike
- Walk Through the Sugar Era at Old Kōloa Mill
- Old Koloa Town Historical Walk
- Annual Historic Parade & Park Celebration
- “Sweet Memories” Annual Parade followed by Festival
- TriKaua‘i Triathlon & Fun Run/Walk
- Plantation Days Rodeo
More details of each event on our Kauai Events Calendar.
Photo by Tim De La Vega.
Concert in the Sky 2010
Concert in the Sky is an annual Independence Day event offering the largest aerial fireworks show on Kaua`i, plus family fun and games, and great food from top hotels and restaurants. There will be continuous live entertainment featuring John Cruz, Shilo Pa, The Quake, and Halau Ka Lei Mokihana `O Leina`ala. Gates open at 4:00 pm at Vidinha Soccer Field in Lihue, and proceeds go to the Kauai Hospice.
John Cruz is one of the most talented artists from Hawaii and was named the Best Singer Songwriter by Hawaii Magazine in 2008. He delivers passionate, soulful vocals, and warm, heartfelt melodies that attract a loyal following. He has produced several CD’s, and the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts has awarded him Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.
Shilo Pa’s music speaks straight from the heart, and this incredible singer, songwriter, and guitarist conveys a deep sense of purpose and honesty. Some get “chicken skin” when they hear him play. Shilo Pa was born and raised in Anahola and has a devoted fanbase throughout the islands.
The annual Concert in the Sky is a fundraiser for Kaua‘i Hospice which was founded in 1983 by volunteers who saw the need to provide this island with compassionate care for patients who face terminal or life-threatening illnesses. They are a non-profit organization whose philosophy is that the quality of one’s life is not determined by the quantity of time remaining to live. Their aim is to focus on the comfort of the patient rather than on the disease or its treatment. Services to the patient are provided in the patient’s own home, and address the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient and family.
Hawaii Surfboard Exhibit
The Bishop Museum in Honolulu is presenting a new exhibit featuring rare surfboards and surfing images. On display will be more than 25 historic surfboards including some owned and used by Hawaiian ali‘i. Also from this amazing resource will be a selection of rare surfing images, some never published before. The exhibit called Surfing: Featuring the Historic Surfboards in Bishop Museum’s Collection runs from June 19 to September 6, 2010.
The Bishop Museum is designated as the State Museum of Natural and Cultural History whose mission is to study, preserve, and tell the stories of the natural and cultural history of Hawai‘i and the Pacific. It has more than 24 million catalogued objects – ranking them fourth in the United States and among the top ten in the world.
As surfing has grown so has the interest in its history. Hawaii’s early Polynesian settlers were among the first people to take to the ocean to master the art of he‘e nalu (wave-sliding), and there are not many surviving surfboards from back then, so these are wonderful historic artifacts. The first plank boards were shaped from trees, and you will see examples of surfboard design and construction over the years – from simple wood planks to modern materials.
Worldwide interest in surfing began when Hawaii Olympian and avid surfer Duke Kahanamoku became its ambassador. A handful of the photos in the exhibit are from Duke’s personal collection. The museum will also feature a modern surf simulator for you to test your surfing prowess.
