Matsuyama Food Mart

The art of hula is celebrated every April at the Merrie Monarch Festival, the largest 3-day dance festival on the islands and named after the last monarch of Hawaii, King David Kalakaua. In addition to the hula competition, there's also a crafts fair, an art show, hula shows, and a grand parade through Hilo town.

Learn about the culture that encompasses the Hawaiian Islands as you explore the Polynesian Cultural Center. Enjoy a tour of gorgeous Oahu, experience an authentic luau, and see a breathtaking show of Polynesian dance, music, and storytelling. The Polynesian Cultural Center gives you the opportunity to discover the history and beauty of Hawaii.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts was founded in 1922 and opened to the public on April 8, 1927. It was the vision of Anna Rice Cooke, a woman born into a prominent missionary family on O‘ahu in 1853. Growing up in a home that appreciated the arts, she went on to marry Charles Montague Cooke, also of a prominent missionary family, and the two settled in Honolulu. In 1882, they built a home on Beretania Street, on the site that would become home to the museum. In 1961, Thurston Twigg-Smith opened an art gallery—the Contemporary Art Center—within the Honolulu Advertiser building, which he owned. The gallery featured work from Twigg-Smith's collection and work by local artists. In 1988, the Twigg-Smith family donated Spalding House, which was built by Honolulu Academy of Arts founder Anna Rice Cooke, to create The Contemporary Museum, a private, nonprofit museum for contemporary art in Honolulu. In 2011, The Contemporary Museum gifted its assets and collection to the Honolulu Academy of Arts and in 2012, the combined museum changed its name to the Honolulu Museum of Art.