Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 | 2:55 p.m.
If you have no idea how to pronounce the name Prince Jonah Kuhio Ho’olaule’a, then a good place to figure it out would be the Pacific Islands Festival that bears his name on Sept. 13 and 14 in downtown Henderson.
In addition to help with the vowel-heavy pronunciation, Southern Nevada’s Pacific Island communities will offer up authentic food and merchandise from the region and throw in some free entertainment in Nevada’s largest showcase of the culture of Hawaii and its neighbors in the Pacific.
Prince Jonah Kuhio Ho’olaule’a was the founder of the Hawaiian Civic Club, a national organization that now has 52 local clubs throughout the United States, including the Las Vegas Chapter, which is sponsoring the annual festival for the 18th year — its second year in Henderson.
Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club President Charles Herring said that more than 100 vendors have signed up for this year’s event, which is planned to be the biggest yet.
In addition to Hawaii, the cultures of Japan, China, Korea, Tonga and Samoa, to name a few, will also be on display, Herring said. He said this year’s festival will be bigger than the Henderson Events Plaza can handle, so part of Water Street will be closed to fit it all in.
“We’ll have two stages this year, which is going to make it a little bit more exciting,” he said.
The free entertainment will include a number of local performers and groups as well as a group coming from Hawaii and another from Washington.
In Nevada, the festival originally began as an annual event for Pacific Islanders to gather and keep in touch, Herring said, but it has grown much larger.
“We find that there are quite a few non-Hawaiians who like the culture and come out to the event,” he said.
Herring said he is expecting a record 30,000 attendees this year.
Nicole Johnson, spokeswoman for Henderson’s Cultural Arts and Tourism Department, said the Pacific Islands Festival has become a significant event in the city’s annual downtown calendar.
“It’s definitely something cultural for the community and it’s something fun,” she said. “We want the community to get involved and this event offers a lot of variety and is definitely a family-friendly event.”
The festival also serves as the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club’s annual fundraiser, Herring said. The club will be selling raffle tickets for two round-trip tickets to Hawaii, $1,000 cash and a number of smaller prizes.
Herring said the festival relocated to Henderson last year, because the cost of holding it in Las Vegas had become too expensive. He said he’s been pleased with the result.
The atmosphere of the event sells itself, he said.
“We just let people know that there’s a Pacific Islands event happening,” he said. “This is where we meet every year just to hang out. It’s a great place to hang out. It’s very relaxed. It’s a lot of fun, and the entertainment is free. There aren’t too many events like this.”
Taste of Islands
WHAT: Prince Jonah Kuhio Ho’olaule’a Pacific Islands Festival
WHERE: Henderson Events Plaza, 240 Water St.
WHEN: Sept. 13 and 14, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
COST: Free
INFO: 596-2193
Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or [email protected].
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy