Vendors Sought for Kūhiō Day Celebration Event

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, father of the Hawaiian homestead program. Maui Now Stock Photo

The 147th anniversary of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole’s birthday will be celebrated on April 1, 2018, at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College’s Great Lawn.

The Easter Sunday event will celebrate Kūhiō’s March 26, 1871, birthday, as well as Easter with a 7 a.m. sunrise service and 8 a.m. egg hunt. The free event will also feature day-long entertainment, a Paukukalo reunion, a keiki zone with four jumping castles, food, and arts and crafts.

Kūhiō served as a 10-term Territorial delegate to Congress where he championed the federal 1920 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that created the statewide Hawaiian homestead program. Kūhiō also reorganized the Royal Order of Kamehameha in 1903; created the islands’ county-government system; started the Hawaiian civic-club movement in 1918, and introduced the first Hawaiʻi statehood bill in 1919.

The deadline for vendors to signup for the event is March 5, 2018.

Each vendor is required to supply their own 10×10-foot tent, table and chairs, and must attend a mandatory vendor meeting at 6 p.m. on March 5. Event organizers also are recruiting community and nonprofit groups to host free community-information booths. Homestead associations will host the food booths as fundraisers. For information and vendor forms, send an email to kuhioday2018@gmail.com.

Kuhio Day Celebration co-sponsors are the Maui Mokupuni Council composed of homestead leaders, and UHMC—both entities in collaboration with the Royal Order of Kamehameha Kahekili Chapter IV.

The Maui Mokupuni Council represents the 10 Valley Isle homesteads: Kahikinui; Kēōkea; Leialiʻi in Lahaina; Paukukalo; Waiehu Kou 1 through 4, and Waiohuli phases 1 and 1-A.