Emma Farden Sharpe Hula Festival 2026

The festival honors Emma Kapiʻolani Farden Sharpe (1904–1991), a kumu hula born in Puʻukōliʻi, Lahaina, who taught at King Kamehameha III Elementary School for forty years beginning in 1923. She studied hula under Kauhai Likua (a dancer in King Kamehameha IV's court), Joseph Ilalaʻole, and Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui. She established Nā Mele O Maui, a choir competition for Maui County schoolchildren, and the hula festival originated alongside it before ceasing in the early 1990s. The Lahaina Hawaiian Civic Club revived the event in 2014 under its current name and remains a major sponsor and partner.

Held at Royal Lahaina Resort, the all-day festival presents invited hālau hula groups performing both kahiko (traditional) and ʻauana (contemporary) hula. Free keiki activities, cultural workshops in ukulele and hula, a marketplace of local Maui artisans, and an annual lifetime achievement award honoring a figure in the hula community are central features of the program.