Google’s Street View web-mapping technology will be going off-road and onto the lush backcountry trails of the Big Island this fall, aiming to offer hiker’s-view photographic guides to more than 25 of the island’s best hiking trails. Street View Trekker is the latest addition to Google’s Street View application, which already offers Web users straight-from-the-asphalt, […]
While most of us today would probably choose modern civilization over socially rigid ancient Hawaii, we’re still intrigued by the cultural history of tropical paradise. This year’s annual Puuhonua O Honaunau Cultural Festival, happening this weekend, offers a step back in time to a Hawaii of the past. Staged at Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historic
After a long three years of sitting, waiting, and wishing, Jack Johnson fans are eagerly hitting the play button on the Hawaii singer-songwriter’s new single, I Got You, which was released this week. Recorded at Johnson’s own Mango Tree Studio on Oahu’s North Shore, the song features a breezy, fingerpicking melody and, of course, Johnson’s
This month, the lineup events organized by Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park includes a guided five-mile group hike along Kilauea Iki Trail, which crosses a still-steaming volcanic crater floor, and other trails. Plus, the nonprofit will stage its next volunteer forest restoration project in an area of native ohia forest. • Exploring Kilauea Iki
Ten Hawaii institutions will be offering free admission to all active-duty military personnel, including National Guard and Reserve, and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day as part of Blue Star Museums, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the Department of Defense. Among the participating venues is
This year’s Big Island Film Festival celebrity honorees are Vincent Kartheiser, “Pete Campbell” on the award-winning drama Mad Men, and Kate McKinnon, a featured player on the legendary Saturday Night Live, known for her impressions of Ann Romney, Ellen DeGeneres and Penelope Cruz. (Both honorees pictured above.) Now in its eighth year, the five-day fest
The third annual Puna Music Festival is under way this week on the Big Island’s east side. The fest spotlights more than 100 local performers. Among the headliners slated to perform later this week are John Cruz the Big Island’s Nahko and Medicine for the People. Among the featured events is “Kanikapila in Old Town
Tomorrow is May Day, known in the Islands as Lei Day — a day that celebrates Hawaiian culture, focusing on our fragrant symbol of aloha. One of the largest gatherings will be Oahu’s 86th annual Lei Day Celebration, held at the bandstand in Queen Kapiolani Regional Park (Waikiki area), 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It’s
The nonprofit Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is offering a field seminar this weekend that focuses on cultural and scientific exploration tied to plants used in hula. A kumu hula (hula teacher/master) and a botanist will team up to lead Plants of Hula: Na Mea Kanu o Ka Hula, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The fifth annual Kau Coffee Festival is slated to start this weekend in the Big Island’s southeast district, where the beans are bringing home international honors in gourmet cupping competitions. The fest’s lineup of events, which spans two weekends, offers everything from coffee farm visits and coffee-tastings to Hawaii-focused cultural performances, and, for aspiring connoisseurs,
Entrance fees at three Hawaii national parks will be waived for a five-day stretch, starting on Mon., April 22, to celebrate National Park Week. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, both on the Big Island, and Maui’s Haleakala National Park will waive the fees from Sat., April 21 through Sun.,
The Kona Coffee Blossom Banquet, a fundraiser for the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, will be held on Sat., April 20, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. Proceeds from the event will be used to continue research and education tied to the island’s ongoing fight against the coffee berry borer,
