Festivals of Aloha comes to Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea starting tomorrow, Friday, October 23. Most listings describe the weekend as three evening shows: a falsetto contest, a hula showcase and a concert. Four Seasons' schedule also includes a full daytime program. Opening ceremonies start at 9:30 a.m. Friday. A market, garden tours and cultural demonstrations fill both Friday and Saturday afternoons, and Sunday's main daytime event is a three-and-a-half-hour panel on hula lineages, held before most people have finished breakfast.
The Wailea Resort Association says all of the Wailea events are free and open to the public. If you live a few minutes away, the daytime program is the easiest part of the weekend to drop into. It is also where most of this year's theme comes through.
The theme comes from the ocean, and so does Saturday's best hour
The 2026 festival theme is "Ea Mai Ke Kai Mai – Rise Up from the Sea." Maui Now reported that it supports Gov. Josh Green's declaration of 2026 as the "Year of Our Coastal Kuleana." The phrase comes from a pule hoʻōla, a prayer for long life, published in June Gutmanis' book Nā Pule Kahiko: Ancient Hawaiian Prayers. The prayer is described as a family chant from the line of David Malo Kupihea I.
The daytime event that fits the theme best is on Saturday at 11 a.m., in the Salon A side of the ballroom. The talk is called He Waʻa Koa, and it marks 50 years since Hōkūleʻa's first voyage to Tahiti and back. The guest speaker is Penny Martin, one of the two women who sailed on that voyage. In a year built around rising up from the sea, a talk from someone who crossed the Pacific on a voyaging canoe ties more closely to the theme than anything else on the weekend's program.
The hours around that talk are less formal. Here is the daytime program, as Four Seasons lists it:
- Friday, October 23: Opening ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. A Queen Liliʻuokalani Garden Tour from 10 to 11 a.m. Hawaiian practitioner demonstrations and presentations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Live Aloha Market with local artisans and vendors, and a Manaola pop-up featuring Hawaiian designer Manaola Yap, both from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, October 24: The same garden tour, demonstrations, market and pop-up hours, plus He Waʻa Koa at 11 a.m.
- Sunday, October 25: The Live Aloha Market in the Wailea Room and the Manaola pop-up in the Molokini Room, both from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Kumu Hula Panel runs from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Salon A.
On Sunday the market closes at 2 p.m., and the evening concert doesn't open seating until 5 p.m. If you plan to shop and then stay for music, you'll have a few hours to fill, or you can go home and come back.
Saturday night's hālau, and Sunday morning's conversation about lineage
The Sunday panel is described as an in-depth discussion of the hula lineages that Maui kumu hula keep alive here. It makes a good companion to Saturday night. "Hula Is the Heartbeat" opens its doors at 5 p.m. and starts at 6 p.m., with the Mākaha Sons and four Maui hālau:
- Hālau Kekuaokalāʻauʻalaʻiliahi, under nā Kumu Hula ʻIliahi and Haunani Paredes
- Hālau Hula Kauluokalā, under nā Kumu Hula Uluwehi Guerrero and Kaui Krueger
- Hālau Keʻalaokamaile, under nā Kumu Hula Henohea Kane and Kealiʻi Reichel
- Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka o Uka, under Kumu Hula Nāpua Silva
Miss Aloha Hula 2026 is also scheduled for a guest appearance.
At least two of these hālau are based elsewhere on the island. Hālau Kekuaokalāʻauʻalaʻiliahi describes itself as a Wailuku hālau. Hālau Keʻalaokamaile's cultural-center parcel is on Piʻiholo Road in Makawao. On Saturday night, Wailea hosts a lineup drawn from across Maui. On Sunday morning, the panel talks about where those traditions come from.
Friday's contest, and the woman it honors
Friday evening belongs to the 5th Annual Carmen Hulu Lindsey Leo Haʻihaʻi Falsetto Contest, a contest for wāhine falsetto singers. The official contest page describes Lindsey as a professional entertainer and recording artist who has served as a Maui trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs since January 2012. She is also a member of ʻAhahui Kaʻahumanu and the Central Maui Hawaiian Civic Club.
Last year's contest shows how seriously it is judged. Maui Now reported that the 2025 champion was Kellysa-Michiko Nāmakaokalani Pauʻole. She sang "Hula o Makee" and also won the ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi award. Brittney Latayada placed second and Allegra Alohilani Althea Kauo placed third. The 2025 panel had separate judges for overall performance, music and Hawaiian language. Lindsey judged overall, Raiatea Helm and Nāpua Silva judged music, and Kahulu Maluo Pearson and Carlson Kamaka Kukona III judged language. According to UH News, Pauʻole was a student at UH Maui College.
Nāpua Silva, a music judge last year, is also the kumu of Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka o Uka, which dances on Saturday this year.
The published start times for Friday don't all agree. Four Seasons lists doors and a pre-show by Launaʻole at 5:30 p.m., with the competition from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and Launaʻole as the house band. The festival's contest page gives a 6 p.m. start. To be safe, arrive by 5:30 p.m. and check FestivalsOfAloha.com that afternoon.
Sunday's concert marks a band's tenth year
"Sounds of the Sea" closes the weekend on Sunday. Seating opens at 5 p.m., the pre-show runs from 6 to 6:45 p.m., the show runs from 7 to 8 p.m., and a meet-and-greet follows from 8:15 to 9 p.m. The headliner is Kūikawā, a trio of Maui-born musicians: Joshua Kulhavy-Sutherland on guitar, James "Koakāne" Mattos on ʻukulele, and Lukela Kanae on bass. The group formed in 2016 through UH Maui College's Institute of Hawaiian Music. Its first album was Kū I Ka Wā.
This year's festival listing says the group is celebrating 10 years with a new album. Four Seasons describes Sunday's show as the third album release in its Mele and Moʻolelo Series.
UH Maui College's music program connects Sunday to Friday as well. Last year's falsetto champion and this year's closing band both came through the same campus.
Parking and shuttle hours
Event parking is off-site and free. Park at the Wailea Event Parking lot, a grassy lot across from Monkeypod off Wailea Ike Drive, and take the free round-trip shuttle. The resort's schedule lists these shuttle hours:
| Day | Shuttle hours | What the hours cover |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Oct. 23 | 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. | Evening falsetto contest |
| Saturday, Oct. 24 | 9:30 a.m. to midnight | Full day, through "Hula Is the Heartbeat" |
| Sunday, Oct. 25 | 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., then 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. | Morning market and panel, then the concert |
The hours matter. Friday's listed shuttle doesn't start until 4:30 p.m., hours after the 9:30 a.m. opening ceremonies, so if you want the Friday daytime program, ask the resort how to get there before you go. Saturday is the only day with a shuttle from morning to midnight. If you can only make one day, Saturday lets you hear Penny Martin at 11 a.m., browse the market and stay for the hālau at night with no gap in the shuttle. On Sunday there's an hour with no listed shuttle, from 3 to 4 p.m.
Two other festivals run the same weekend. Makawao's runs October 23 through 25 at Oskie Rice Arena during Rodeo Weekend, and Hāna's weeklong festival ends on Saturday, October 24. For Wailea residents, the Four Seasons program is the closest of the three, with free parking just off Wailea Ike Drive.
If you go, I'd love to hear which part stayed with you, whether it was Friday's falsetto, the Saturday talk on Hōkūleʻa or Kūikawā's tenth-year show. Some of my favorite conversations with clients start with what's happening in our own community, and those conversations are always welcome with Rai Morimoto. Let's Connect.
