Wailuku First Friday Celebrates Festivals of Aloha

Photo of break dancing at a previous Wailuku First Friday event. File photo by Lois Whitney​.

OHA Maui Trustee, Carmen Hulu Lindsey. Photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

The annual Festivals of Aloha kicks off two months of festivities on Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Hāna at the Wailuku First Friday event, happening tonight, Sept. 5, on Market Street in Old Wailuku Town.

The event features entertainment by Iwalani Hoʻomanawanui Apo at 7:30 p.m. at the Maui Thing stage, and Nā Hōkū Hanohano Female Vocalist Carmen Hulu Lindsey at 6:30 p.m.

Other highlights this month include:

• Live entertainment by Soul Kitchen at 6:15 p.m. at the Wailuku Banyan Tree Park.
• ʻĪao Theater celebrates its 86th anniversary with 1928’s “Steamboat Bill, Jr.”  Admission is free with festivities scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
• Hawaiian Music, Beer and Wine Garden, benefiting Kumu Aʻo Inc., from 6 p.m.
• Joel Katz on Hawaiian Steel Guitar is the featured entertainer at 33 North Market Street, beginning at 6 p.m.
• The Wailuku Coffee Company hosts live music with Christy Fell from 4 to 6 p.m.
• Free Yoga class at the Body Alive studio on Main Street, starting at 4:45 p.m.
• A shoe drive continues at “If the Shoe Fits.”  The company has already collected nearly 12,000 pairs of shoes over the past year to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters, but the drive continues.

As the kickoff event for the Festivals of Aloha on Maui, organizers will be selling festival ribbons for $5 each to help support the nonprofit event.

The Wailuku First Friday event is held on the first Friday of each month in Old Wailuku Town.  The community street party is free and open to the public with key events running from 6 to 9 p.m.

Market Street will be closed from 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. during the monthly event.  Free parking is available at the Maui Medical Group lot.