Aloha Festivals 2026: Nation’s largest Hawaiian cultural celebration marks 80 years

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Aloha Festivals marks a major milestone in 2026: 80 years of celebrating Hawaiian culture, community, and the aloha spirit.

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This year’s theme, “80 Years of Aloha: Our Culture, Our Stories, Celebrating Our Island Home,” honors the festival’s legacy while emphasizing the living traditions that continue to shape Hawaiʻi.

Festival organizers said the event has long served as an invitation to share in Hawaiian culture — from hula and kanikapila to lei making — while perpetuating traditions for future generations and strengthening connections between residents and visitors.

Key 2026 dates

A history born of recovery

The celebration started in 1946 as Aloha Week — a way to help the islands recover from World War II. It also helped restore cultural observances that were lost after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

“There is so much humility that comes with perpetuating our culture because of what was done to our culture,” said respected cultural advisor and Kumu Hula Blaine Kamalani Kia.

Kia has been involved with the Aloha Festivals for many years and currently oversees all aspects of the festival’s Royal Court.

“Just starting there, the humility, it actually allows me to keep an open mind about how to perpetuate, how to preserve, how to make sure that I do my part as a Hawaiian,” he said.

The nation’s largest Hawaiian cultural celebration

Renamed Aloha Festivals in 1991, the statewide event is now considered the largest Hawaiian cultural celebration in the United States.

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Major Oʻahu events attract more than 100,000 attendees each year, organizers said.

Attendees enjoy the event’s pageantry, festive atmosphere, and the sense of hope it offers.

“We get information in so many global ways that a lot of it is negative,” Kia said. “So we have to find a way as Hawaiians to remain positive. Aloha Festivals, it’s kuleana, it’s to perpetuate Aloha.”

Lessons from the Royal Court

Kia takes his responsibility of overseeing the Royal Court seriously, having first become involved right out of high school.

“I ended up being a member of the Royal Court in 1979, got to learn from some of the greats: the late Aunty Hoakalei Kamau, Nathan Napoka, Moana Gee. There were some incredible people that really taught me really about Hawaiian culture from a different perspective,” he said.

Kia said he incorporates what he learned from these revered kūpuna into his work today.

In an upcoming report, Hawaii News Now will explore what it takes to join the Royal Court and how Kumu Kia uses lessons from past generations to guide today’s members.

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For more information, visit the official Aloha Festivals website.