Events This Weekend and Beyond

Kahilu Theatre is honored to be hosting the 16th Annual Ukulele and Slack Key Guitar Festival from Thursday through Saturday.

This music event will include Jake Shimabukuro, Jeff Peterson, Sonny Lim, Led Kaapana, Nathan Awaeau, Mike Kaawa, and Brittni Paiva. Over the course of three days, there will be workshop classes offered in addition to the evening of concerts. Prior to the festival, these musicians will also participate in Kahilu’s Education Outreach Program where they will perform together in local schools across the Big Island to give back to the community and inspire the next generation of ukulele and ki ho malu performers.

Tickets are $10 with an instrument and $20 without. Ticket prices for Ho’olaule’a and Hana Hou concerts on Friday and Saturday are $65/$45/$25. All tickets can be purchased at kahilutheatre.org, by calling 885-6868 or at the Kahilu Theatre Box Office.

Third annual Turkey Trot, a 5K walk/run benefiting The Food Basket, Saturday morning at Fairmont Orchid Plantation Estates. Registration at 6:30 a.m.; race time at 8 a.m. $35 for adults, $25 for keiki, free for keiki 12 and younger. Info/register: foodbaskethawaii.org.

• Kawaihae Cane Club’s 24th annual luau, 5 p.m. at the Kawaihae Canoe Club site. Enjoy an outdoor luau with authentic food and great Hawaiian entertainment under the stars. Presale adult tickets are $40 and child tickets are $15 (ages 5-10). Gate opens at 5 p.m. and dinner starts at 6. Info: Izzy, 987-2819 or kccluau@yahoo.com.

• Kauaha’ao Congregational Church fundraising bazaar, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the corner of Mamalahoa Highway, Kamaoa Road and Pinao Street just above the Wong Yuen Store. The church will be selling kalua pig plate lunches, containers of kalua pig, smoked meat bowls, baked goods, produce, crafts. Info: Debbie at 928-8039.

Tickets on sale for comedian, YouTube superstar JP Sears

Comedian and YouTube superstar, JP Sears, will be performing his comedy show at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6, at the Kahilu Theater. Tickets went on sale to the general public Wednesday.

Sears is an emotional healing coach, international teacher, speaker at events, world traveler and curious student of life. His work empowers people to live more meaningful lives. Sears speaks and performs at numerous events, conferences, festivals, and retreats around the world. He is very active on his YouTube channel, AwakenWithJP, where he encourages healing and growth through his entertainingly informative, humorous, and inspiring videos including his hit Ultra Spiritual comedy series.

Tickets are $37.50/$40.50/$43.50 plus service charges and VIP tickets are also available and can be bought at www.kahilutheatre.org or by calling 885-6868.

Info: You can learn more about Sears and his work at AwakenWithJP.com and YouTube.com/AwakenWithJP.

Hawaii inspired art for sale with Waimea Arts Council

During the month of December, the Waimea Arts Council is holding its annual art show and sale, “Affordable Art at Exceptional Prices.” The exhibit is from Nov. 28 through Dec. 30 at the Firehouse Gallery in Waimea. All art is created by local artists.

A range of island inspired art will be on sale at affordable prices, from $2.50 to $250. This includes: original paintings, drawings, creation in wood, photography, jewelry, prints and cards.

On Saturday, Dec. 1, the gallery will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the Waimea Twilight Christmas Parade. The parade runs from 5:30-8 p.m. There will be coffee, cocoa and cookies available.

Info: Visit waimeaartcouncil.org, as well as Facebook or Instagram at Firehouse Art Gallery.

Hula at the VAC

The Volcano Art Center’s Hula Arts at Kilauea performance series continues at 10:20 a.m. Saturday with a presentation by Kumu Haamauliola Aiona with the students of Ke Kula O Nawahiokalaniopuu Public Charter School.

The presentation takes place in a one-of-a-kind outdoor setting at the kahua hula in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. These performances are presented authentically in an outdoor setting, rain or shine without electronic amplification. Audience members are encouraged to bring sun/rain gear and sitting mats.

Info: Visit www.volcanoartcenter.org or call 967-8222 for more information.

Dr. Tim’s Medicine Band headlines weekend festival

From 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Dr. Tim’s Medicine Band will be playing at Hale Halawai for the Going Nuts for the Holidays Festival.

The band will be performing vintage music.

Info: Email help@hendlinhealth.com

Local musicians Doug &Dan’s CD now available

The latest album from Doug &Dan is currently at CD Baby and will be soon available on Amazon.

The album is available for sale on store.cdbaby.com. To find it search for Doug &Dan. You can hear clips of the tunes on the website as well. CDs are also available at the Waimea General Store.

Info: Email dougjohnsonmusic@yahoo.com

To put on a great Tiki Festival, a few things are required. The right attire, music, drinks and art are all crucial, but there also needs to be the right setting.

Artist Brad “Tiki Shark” Parker and his business partner, Abbas Hassan, think they have found the perfect spot with Don’s Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Kona Resort. From 3-9 p.m. Saturday, the bar will host the second annual Tiki Festival, featuring local tiki artists and Hawaii-based musicians. The free event is a celebration of tiki art and tiki culture in its place of origin.

“We’re doing it for the community and we’re doing it for the artists,” Hassan said. “And what better place than Kona, with its history of tiki?”

The festival will feature performances by Hawaii music legends Henry Kapono and Johnny Valentine, as well as entertainment provided by magician Paul Kozak. Some of the artists to be featured are Hawaii-based tiki artists Parker, Rockwood and Dennis Mathewson.

This year, Parker has designed an exclusive glass tiki mug for the festival, which can be bought for $45 along with the special drink, Tiki-Shark’s Ginger Diversion. As the festival continues, Parker said he hopes to create a new one every year as part of a collector’s series.

“Last year, we tried to go national and bring in guys from the mainland,” said Jeff Isbister, food and beverage manager at the Royal Kona Resort. “Now, we’re focusing on the locals.”

On the mainland, there are tiki festivals that have been running for decades, but the one in Kona is the first in Hawaii. Hassan said the inaugural festival last year was well received, and the organizers are striving to double the attendance this year.

With its tiki architecture and views of Kailua Bay, the Royal Kona Resort makes the Big Island’s festival standout from its mainland counterparts.

“This is the quintessential tiki-style palace,” Parker said. “Even the way the lobby is laid out. You have to walk over a bridge that has water underneath it. That was symbolic in the old days, of you having to go from the outside world, walk over this magical bridge where you could go to this magical world where you could unwind and relax.”

The Royal Kona Resort was designed in 1968 by architect Pete Wimberly and features columns and archways designed by sculptor Edward “Mick” Brownlee, who both had an extensive portfolio of tiki-style architecture for hotels throughout the Hawaiian islands. The design makes the hotel, in Parker’s mind, the perfect place for Hawaii’s own Tiki Festival.

“There’s not many place like this left, so it’s kind of nice to be able celebrate this style of architecture, because who knows how long it’s going to be here in the future, but right now it’s here,” Parker said. “And it’s just a magical moment to be able to come to a hotel like this and celebrate tiki culture.”

Tara Cronin is both a photographer and a coffee farmer, and she understands the hard work that goes into both.

“I’ll tell you the truth, the harvest is both energizing and exciting, but we all kind of want to cry as well,” Cronin said with a laugh. “Because you have to keep up with the crop.”

Along with harvesting coffee on Kona’s mountainside, Cronin has been working on a portrait project featuring coffee farmers and WWOOFers — temporary, volunteer farmers — in the area, with each portrait hand-dyed with coffee from each individual’s farm. Cronin hand-dyed the portraits in a bathtub at her home, and alongside each photograph is a few paragraphs telling the farmers’ stories.

“I don’t do portraits a lot, but I have done some in the past,” Cronin said. “And when I think of portraits I like to hear their voice, too. So I asked each person a few questions about their experience in Kona coffee.”

For its annual art exhibition celebrating the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, the Donkey Mill Art Center is displaying the portraits as part of #coffeelover, this year’s exhibition, which will be displayed at the art center through Dec. 15. Cronin’s photography is just one aspect of #coffeelover, which director Miho Morinoue said has a different focus from the festival’s exhibitions in past years.

“We’ve always focused more on the legacy and the history of Kona coffee, and our with exhibition this year, it’s more about current day,” Morinoue said.

From 6-8 p.m. today, the artists reception and awards presentation will help bring the 48th annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival to an end. The reception will have a community potluck and no-host bar, and is open to the public.

During the festival, the Donkey Mill is also offering 100 percent Kona coffee for tasting during the center’s open hours.

Also on display at the Donkey Mill for #coffeelover is a clay installation by ceramics studio manager Erin Skelton. The monochromatic scene featuring a white desk, boots, wall and single coffee cup is Skelton’s own ode to Kona coffee as an outsider who moved to the island 11 months ago from Canada.

“It was kind of a spontaneous thing,” Skelton said. “The idea kind of just came to me, because I had found this old cup of mine in the studio, and all the coffee had evaporated out of it. And that was kind of the trigger to the idea of doing this installation.

“The idea is to create this distilled moment. Just mark a phase, of this moment of time you spend with yourself and your cup of coffee. So it’s a much more intimate piece.”

Info: The Donkey Mill Art Center is open from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.