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Merrie Monarch Festival
The Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long cultural festival that takes place annually in Hilo, Hawaii during the week after Easter. It honors King David Kalākaua, who was called the "Merrie Monarch" for his patronage of the arts and is credited with restoring many Native Hawaiian, Hawaiian cultural traditions during his reign, including hula. Many ''Halau hula, hālau hula'' (schools), including some from the U.S. mainland and some international performers, attend the festival each year to participate in exhibitions and competitions. The festival has received worldwide attention and is considered the most prestigious of all hula contests. Merrie Monarch week begins Easter Sunday every year. The competitive hula events end the week, and occur on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; They are televised and live-streamed for free online by ''Hawaii News Now'' (formerly KHII-TV, KFVE/K5). The 2020 Merrie Monarch festival was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, c ...
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Hoʻolulu Park
Hoolulu Park (officially the Hoolulu Park Complex; sometimes shortened to Hoolulu Complex) is a park and recreation center operated by the Hawaii County, Hawaii, County of Hawaii in Hilo, Hawaii, east of the Wailoa River State Recreation Area and downtown Hilo, and west of Hilo International Airport. The venues are named for prominent figures from the Hilo area, including Hilo High School basketball coach Ung Soy "Beans" Afook, boxer and sports promoter Richard "Pablo" Chinen, coach and complex supervisor Aunty Sally Kaleohano, swim coach Charles "Sparky" Kawamoto, youth sports organizer Walter Victor, and sports booster Dr. Francis F.C. Wong. Hoolulu Park also is the site of the Edith Kanakaole Multi-Purpose Stadium, which hosts nationally prominent events, including the Hilo Orchid Show and the Merrie Monarch Festival. History Early Hawaii County recreation facilities included the Hilo Armory (completed in 1931) and Cow Palace (officially, the Amfac warehouse), both of which w ...
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Kingdom Of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: [kɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi]), was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands. It was established in 1795 when Kamehameha I, then Aliʻi nui of Hawaii, conquered the islands of Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi, and unified them under one government. In 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were fully unified when the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau voluntarily joined the Hawaiian Kingdom. Two major Dynasty, dynastic families ruled the kingdom, the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua. The kingdom subsequently gained diplomatic recognition from European powers and the United States. An influx of European and American explorers, traders, and whalers soon began arriving to the kingdom, introducing diseases such as syphilis, tuberculosis, smallpox, and measles, leading to the rapid decline of the Native H ...
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Hula0082200
Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song ( ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form. There are many sub-styles of hula, with the two main categories being Hula ʻAuana and Hula Kahiko. Ancient hula, performed before Western encounters with Hawaii, is called ''kahiko''. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments. Hula, as it evolved under Western influence in the 19th and 20th centuries, is called ''auana'' (a word that means "to wander" or "drift"). It is accompanied by song and Western-influenced musical instruments such as the guitar, the ukulele, and the double bass. Terminology for two additional categories is beginning to enter the hula lexicon: "Monarchy" includes any hula which were composed and choreographed during the 19th century. During that time the influx of Western culture created signifi ...
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Aloha Dalire
Fabianne Pomaialoha Wong Dalire, known professionally as Aloha Dalire, (June 22, 1950 – August 6, 2014) was an American Hawaiian kumu hula, or master hula teacher. She won the first Miss Aloha Hula as Aloha Wong, in 1971, the same year that the Merrie Monarch Festival was established. The Miss Aloha Hula title is hula's top solo wahine (women's) honor. Dalire Wong was born on June 22, 1950, in Honolulu and raised in Kaneohe, Hawaii. She began studying hula dancing when she was just three years old under kumu hula master, George Na'ope. Her mother, Mary Keolalaulani McCabe Wong, founded Keolalaulani Halau 'Olapa O Laka, a hula school, in 1963. Aloha Dalire would later become the director of her mother's halau. Dalire won the first Miss Hula title, later known as Miss Aloha Hula, in 1971 under her maiden name, Aloha Wong. She pursued a career as a hula teacher, ultimately becoming a kumu hula, or hula master. She remained deeply involved with the Merrie Monarch Festival. She re ...
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West Hawaii Today
''West Hawaii Today'' is a Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i based daily newspaper. It is owned and published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press. History ''West Hawaii Today'' began in 1962 as a special weekly edition of ''Hilo Tribune-Herald''. Known as the ''Kona Tribune-Herald'' it continued in 1964 as a weekly. From late 1964 until 1968, the paper published under the title ''Kona Weekly Tribune-Herald''. It was started by Glenn and Sally Maitland. ''West Hawaii Today'' began publishing under its present title on July 31, 1968. In 2014, the '' Hawaii Tribune-Herald'' and ''West Hawaii Today'' were sold by Stephens Media, LLC to Oahu Publications Inc. Subsidiary publications * North Hawaii News', "serving all of North Hawaii". Waimea, Hawaii County, Hawaii. A weekly newspaper, every Thursday Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which ado ...
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Hula0080200
Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song ( ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visual dance form. There are many sub-styles of hula, with the two main categories being Hula ʻAuana and Hula Kahiko. Ancient hula, performed before Western encounters with Hawaii, is called ''kahiko''. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments. Hula, as it evolved under Western influence in the 19th and 20th centuries, is called ''auana'' (a word that means "to wander" or "drift"). It is accompanied by song and Western-influenced musical instruments such as the guitar, the ukulele, and the double bass. Terminology for two additional categories is beginning to enter the hula lexicon: "Monarchy" includes any hula which were composed and choreographed during the 19th century. During that time the influx of Western culture created signifi ...
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Kapiʻolani
Kapiʻolani (December 31, 1834 – June 24, 1899) was the queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as the consort of Mōʻī (king) Kalākaua, who reigned from 1874 until his death in 1891, when she became known as the Dowager Queen Kapiʻolani. Deeply interested in the health and welfare of Native Hawaiians, Kapiʻolani established the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls, for the education of the daughters of residents of the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement, and the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home, where Hawaiian mothers and newborns could receive care. Early life and family Kapiʻolani was born December 31, 1834, in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island to High Chief Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole of Hilo and High Chiefess Kinoiki Kekaulike of Kauaʻi, the daughter of King Kaumualiʻi, the last king of an independent Kauaʻi before its cession to Kamehameha the Great. Her two younger sisters were Kapoʻoloku Poʻomaikelani (1839–1895), who married Hiram Kahanawai, and Kinoiki Kekaulike (1843–1884), who ...
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State Of Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state in the tropics. Hawaii consists of 137 volcanic islands that comprise almost the entire Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian archipelago (the exception, which is outside the state, is Midway Atoll). Spanning , the state is Physical geography, physiographically and Ethnology, ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania. Hawaii's ocean coastline is consequently the List of U.S. states and territories by coastline, fourth-longest in the U.S., at about . The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are Niihau, Niihau, Kauai, Kauai, Oahu, Oahu, Molokai, Molokai, Lanai, Lānai, Kahoʻolawe, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii (island), Hawaii, a ...
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Dottie Thompson
Dorothy Mae Elizabeth Soares Thompson (May 16, 1921 – March 19, 2010), widely known as Auntie Dottie, was an American festival organizer, who is credited with co-founding and developing the Merrie Monarch Festival. The Merrie Monarch Festival, which is held in Hilo, is Hawaii's premier hula event. It was developed by Thompson and hula dancer, George Naope. Dorothy Mae Elizabeth Soares was born on May 16, 1921, the youngest of five children. As a sophomore in 1937 she was named best female athlete of Hilo High School. She graduated from President William McKinley High School in Honolulu in 1939. She had four children with her husband Ronald Saiki. Her second husband was George Thompson. Thompson served as the Merrie Monarch's executive director since 1968 with Naope. She remained the festival's head until her death in 2010. Thompson initially had to push hard for funds and media coverage during the festival's early years. Throughout her tenure as director of the festival, T ...
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George Naʻope
George Lanakilakeikiahialii Naope (February 25, 1928 – October 26, 2009), born in Kalihi, Hawaii and raised in Hilo, was a celebrated kumu hula, master Hawaiian chanter, and leading advocate and preservationist of native Hawaiian culture worldwide. He taught hula dancing for over sixty years in Hawaii, Japan, Guam, Australia, Germany, England, North America, and South America. Naope was a scholar of ancient hula, which is hula developed and danced before 1893. He first studied hula at the age of three years under his great-grandmother, Mary Malia Pukaokalani Naope, who lived to be over 100 years old. At the age of four he began to study with Mary Kanaele, the mother and teacher of Edith Kanaka'ole. When he moved to Oahu at the age of ten, he studied for ten years with Joseph Ilalaole. After graduating from high school, Naope moved to Honolulu where he opened the George Naope Hula School, then later continued his studies under Kumu Hula Lokalia Montgomery and Tom Hiona. Na ...
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