Participants in these activities should be aware that they may be photographed, and video may be taken which may be used in promotional, educational, and archival materials.
Class locations and schedules may change due to unforeseen circumstances. Please check our Facebook page for updates.
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Would you like to be a vendor at the 2019 Hilo Lei Day Festival?
Participants with special needs should communicate with the instructor at time of registration.
Lauaʻe Propagation project and lei making at
Liliʻuokalani Gardens
First Sunday of Each Month
Begins at 10:00
Liliʻuokalani Gardens, Eastern Lauaʻe Patch
Updates and last minute changes
Dig in to Hawaiian culture! Join Hālau LeiManu in tending the lauaʻe planting at Liliʻuokalani Gardens. Wear gardening clothes, and bring gloves and weeding tools.
Learn how to kōkua the ʻŌhiʻa-Lehua and its forest home by making beautiful lei from things you can easily find or even grow in your own yard or container garden! Instead of removing precious maile from the native forest, learn to make fragrant lei lauaʻe from lāʻī and fern. Learn to make lei to substitute for the beautiful lehua.
Participants will study nā oli “Haki pū o ka Nahelehele,” and “Ke Lei Maila.” Hālau members also will have a hula practice. Project participants may also join in the hula class. Co-sponsored by Hālau LeiManu and the Friends of Liliʻuokalani Gardens.
Lei Making at Kapoho Kine Adventures
New schedule to be determined
Check in at Kapoho Kine Adventures
Typically, each class focuses on learning to make a different style of lei, and shares stories, songs and hula about the lei. Each class is different, and may have different instructors. Support provided by Kapoho Kine Adventures.
ʻŌlelo Lei
Time, Date, Place TBA
Hilo
Delving more deeply into the intricacies of the specialized language of the lei – both the patois and the symbolic language of the lei as metaphor – which we still find in chant and song. Registered students receive a free download of Hua ʻŌlelo Lei – a Lei Maker’s Glossary. A Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei event, with additional funding from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program.
$15 per person Fiscal sponsorship of Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei / Hilo Lei Day Festival is by Carousel of Aloha, dba Paradise Ponies, Inc.
Makahiki Ball
November 2019
Hilo
Enjoy the romance of a time between then and now, in a place between here and there, at this fundraiser ball for the Hilo Lei Day Festival and Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei educational programs. What an opportunity to enjoy wearing your holokū and leave the modern world behind! Due to so many of our volunteers being affected by the lava flow, we are making adjustments, so please stay in touch by SIGNING UP HERE and we can let you know of updates to this and other Hawaiian cultural events!
You can also help to support the Hilo Lei Day Festival, and help to preserve and perpetuate the language of the lei, through your purchase of Hula ʻŌlelo Lei – A Lei Maker’s Glossary. Only 99 cents, because we want this valuable information to be as widely available as possible, but even tiny donations add up to big results!
Lei Hili Workshop
April 30, Tuesday, 10:00-1:00 / 15:00-18:00 (rescheduled from Feb 6)
Kalākaua Park, Hilo
Learn to make the lei hili, a simple braided lei best suited for long flexible foliage. Fast and simple to make, it is beautiful and graceful. Use this technique not only for lei, but for decorations of garlands and swags for Christmas, weddings, graduations, birthdays. Materials provided. Students will assist in making the decorations for the Hilo Lei Day Festival. Out of respect for the instructors, reservations required by Friday, April 27. Resource materials are available thorough the registration site. Brown bag lunch. A Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei event, with additional funding from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program. Fiscal sponsorship of Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei / Hilo Lei Day Festival is by Carousel of Aloha, dba Paradise Ponies, Inc.
$15 per person
Hilo Lei Day Festival
May 1, 2018, Tuesday, 09:00-15:00
Kalākaua Park, Hilo
Join in the fun at the Hilo Lei Day Festival! Lei making, Hawaiian music, hula, and more! Accessible parking is available.
Please show your parking card to security for directions to accessible parking spaces.
Lei Day Film Fest
May 1
Palace Theater, Haili St, Hilo
Enjoy vintage films and precious memories of our kūpuna as they explore the meaning of the lei through the years. The Palace Theater brings out its collection of historic videos collected during the seven-year run of their live stage show, "Hawaiʻiana Live." Films will run throughout the day, so enjoy the various activities in town! A Hilo Palace Theater event.
Hilo Hula Tuesday
May 1, 2018, Tuesday, 12:00-13:00
Moʻoheau Bandstand, Hilo
At noon on Lei Day, be sure to head over to the historic Moʻoheau Bandstand for more live Hawaiian music and hula in a setting beside the sea! A Destination Hilo event.
Presentation on "Language of the Lei"
May 25, 2018, Saturday 18:00-19:00
Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station Presentation Room
The lei becomes a vehicle for understanding the importance of preserving language to preserve culture. Taking the premise that when words are lost, the ability to describe what they symbolize is lost, Leilehua Yuen, author of Hua ʻŌlelo Lei, uses the art of lei making to demonstrate how the loss of language has affected a cultural tradition, and offers practical suggestions that anyone can implement to help preserve native languages and cultures. Members of Hālau LeiManu help visitors to craft their own lei to take with them. Sponsored by Mauna Kea Support Services and He Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei, with additional funding from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program. Free and open to the public. Arrive early, as there is limited seating and parking. First come first served.
Lei Making for Kamehameha Statue
June 9, 2018, Saturday 10:00-14:00
Liliʻuokalani Gardens, brown bag lunch
Join Hālau LeiManu at Liliʻuokalani Gardens to share in making lei for the Kamehameha Statue to commemorate Kamehameha Day. Bring softened lāʻī (tī leaf) and lau kukui (kukui leaf) if you can. Class will start with hula basics and then practice Ka Ua i Hāmākua. Lunch at noon, with discussion of Paiʻea Kamehameha and his relationship to Hilo. Lei making and more discussion after lunch. Sponsored by Friends of Liliʻuokalani Gardens and He Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei with kōkua from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program. Free and open to the public.
Philosophy of the Lei
June 19, Tuesday, 2018
Liliʻuokalani Gardens, Hilo
In conjunction with the ʻAha Hula o Hālauaola, a day of storytelling, hula, garden walk, and lei making. Students learn harvesting techniques and discuss philosophy of the lei as a cultural metaphor which weaves together past/present/future, mind/spirit/body, nature/mana/human. Students have an opportunity to try their hands at lei lāʻī, lei hilo, lei haku, and lei hili, learning when it is appropriate to choose which styles. Students also practice the unique vocabulary of the lei. A collaborative event between ʻAha Hula o Hālauaola, Friends of Liliʻuokalani Gardens and He Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei with kōkua from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program. Fiscal sponsorship of Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei / Hilo Lei Day Festival is by Carousel of Aloha, dba Paradise Ponies, Inc.
Lei Lauaʻe
July 1, Sunday, 10:00-13:00, 2018
Liliʻuokalani Gardens, Hilo
Join us in a workshop to practice making lei lauaʻe, a lei designed as a substitute for maile, to help stop over-harvesting of this precious kupua of our forests. Fashioned of lāʻī and lauaʻe fern, it is fragrant and beautiful. Students also will participate in cleaning a section of Liliʻuokalani Gardens to develop as a community resource for harvesting lei materials. Sponsored by Friends of Liliʻuokalani Gardens and He Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei with kōkua from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program. Fiscal sponsorship of Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei / Hilo Lei Day Festival is by Carousel of Aloha, dba Paradise Ponies, Inc.
Lauaʻe Propagation project and hula at
Liliʻuokalani Gardens
July 8, 2018
Begins at 10:00
Liliʻuokalani Gardens, meet by old Sumo Ring
Join Hālau LeiManu in tending the lauaʻe planting at Liliʻuokalani Gardens. Wear gardening clothes, gloves, weeding tools. Participants will study nā oli "Haki pū o ka Nahelehele," and "Ke Lei Maila." Hālau members also will have a hula practice. Project participants may also join in the hula class. Co-sponsored by Hālau LeiManu and the Friends of Liliʻuokalani Gardens.
Lei Making Hands-on and Demonstration at Hilo Orchid Show
July 13-15, 2018,
Friday 09:00-18:00
Saturday 09:00-18:00
Sunday 10:00-14:00
Edith Kanakaʻole Stadium, Hilo
The Hilo Orchid Society will stage the largest and most comprehensive orchid show and sale in the state of Hawaiʻi. Come enjoy the flowers and crafts, and learn to make a lei at the Hilo Lei Day Festival booth! Over the course of the show, several different instructors will be on hand, so come each day to learn from all of them! Join Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei and the Friends of Liliʻuokalani Gardens. Fiscal sponsorship of Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei / Hilo Lei Day Festival is by Carousel of Aloha, dba Paradise Ponies, Inc.
Lei Making Hands-on and Demonstration at the Hanakahi Regatta
July 14, 2018
Begins at 10:00
Hilo One, last canoe club at the end of the beach right next to the Judges Stand
Enjoy the excitement of a Hawaiian canoe race, and learn about the traditions of the lei in voyaging and sport as you learn to make your own on the shores of beautiful Hilo Bay. Taught by Ola Jenkins. This demonstration is co-sponsored by Nā Waʻa Hanakahi Educational and Cultural Organization and Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei, and made possible by funding from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Kukulu Ola Program. Fiscal sponsorship of Moʻolelo Kō ka Lei / Hilo Lei Day Festival is by Carousel of Aloha, dba Paradise Ponies, Inc.