08-03-2025
Hōkūleʻa to celebrate 50 years at Canoe Festival
HONOLULU (KHON2) – On March 8, 1975, Hōkūleʻa was assembled and launched into the waters at Hakipuʻu on Oʻahu.
March 8 of this year marks the 50th birthday and anniversary of Hōkūleʻa and also coincides with the 16th annual Kualoa – Hakipuʻu Canoe Festival.
To find out more, we are here with Brandi Cutler who is from the Polynesia Voyaging Society.
Brandi Cutler of the Polynesian Voyaging Society says that there are plenty of aspects for the festival and the anniversary.
'We are looking forward to a beautiful day celebrating our beloved Hōkūleʻa,' she said. 'We are going to have a ceremony with [Hōkūleʻa] arriving with crew members and honoring them, and we will have a ceremony at the ahu here at Kualoa at Hakipuʻu, and after that we are going to have the festival so lots of other community organizations and lots of other waʻa organizations. We have all these beautiful waʻa of Hawaiʻi that are coming in to celebrate their mama, Hōkūleʻa here. So, they will have education booths, we are going to have food trucks, we are going to have entertainment, lots of joy, lots of celebration for our Hōkūleʻa.'
With all the canoes here, it is so nice to see people are in canoes right now and little keiki especially, it kind of gives me a vision of what it may have looked like hundreds of years ago.
Canoes will also offer their own canoe tours for the public, which participants can sign up for. The canoes will be able to take passengers onto the water to be closer to Hōkūleʻa, which will be anchored nearby.
While the events of March 8 end at 4 p.m., there will be a whole week of celebrations.
What is the significance of Hōkūleʻa 50 years into its existence?
'We defer to the beautiful words of Nainoa Thompson commemorating all of the teachers and the builders up until this time and he is really looking forward to the next 50 years and beyond,' says Cutler.
'Everything that Hōkūleʻa has done so far and into the future. We are going back out on Moananuiakea later this year. She will go forth into the deep-sea and continue to make connections throughout Moananuiakea.
Tomorrow's festivities going all the way to 4:00 pm but then there are still events taking place in the week to follow.
'We have the festival tomorrow and then we have canoe tours down at the Ala Wai outside of the Convention Center on Monday, and then we hope everyone can join us at Bishop Museum on Friday, that is the 14th,' Cutler said. 'That is for their After Hours, also dedicated to celebrating Hōkūleʻa, so come on down. Check out Hōkūleʻa's website, you can get tickets there. Come celebrate, learn from folks, come check out the planetarium and some new exhibits dedicated to voyaging.'
The celebration is free for the public and everybody is invited to Kualoa Regional Park for the 50th anniversary and birthday of Hōkūleʻa and the 16th annual Kualoa – Hakipuʻu Canoe Festival.
With thousands of people expected to arrive here at Kualoa Regional Park, parking may be little of a nuisance so plan accordingly and pack a lot of patience.
The gates will open at 6:00 a.m. and festival will pau at 4:00 p.m.
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