The Merrie Monarch Festival (Hilo: rental car, rental, hotels)

[WaikikiBoy]

I have been quite interested in The Merrie Monarch Festival held in Hilo. However, I've not yet been able to attend.

I've watching many of the winning entries over the year on YouTube. But would love to attend one of these days.

For those of you on the Big Island, or on the Mainland who have attended the Festival, I'd love to hear your overall thoughts and impressions of the competition and other festival events.

Thanks

[WaikikiBoy]

Should have included this also: For those unfamiliar with The Merrie Monarch Festival, here is some information about it:

The Merrie Monarch Festival

[hotzcatz]

To get the tickets, you have to send in your request in December/January and hope. If you are actually at the festival, you can usually find someone in line who will let you in for that night on their ticket if one of their group isn't there. Finding two seats together is more difficult, though.

The festival is great to attend, although if you are sitting on the cement bleachers, take a cushion! It is also set up to be filmed, so they have short breaks to match the commercial breaks on TV.

Live it is much different than the TV since your viewpoint isn't selected by the TV folks. You can watch the folks getting ready to go on, the rest of the audience, etc. The TV probably gives you a better overall view, though, as well as the commentary which you don't get at the festival. So, the MM is good either way. It is a pretty LONG festival, though, and you have to drive home in the dark unless you're staying somewhere in Hilo town that night but everything is booked solid that week so you'd probably have to stay with friends.

[HonuMan]

My wife and I live in Oregon. She's from Hilo and is going to the festival for the first time in 20 years. A relative of hers mailed her ticket request at the Hilo post office the morning tickets went on sale, and she lucked out. While I enjoy hula and have seen the festival on video, I'm not as seriously into hula as she is, so I opted to stay behind and take care of our pets. She loves it, though (she used to dance, so she knows what the judges look for), and says there's a craft fair, as well.

[hotzcatz]

There's a whole week of festivities. Hula at the Merrie Monarch, free hula shows throughout the week, the craft fair, a parade, etc. It's a whole hula week in Hilo. The hotels are all sold out, there aren't any more rental cars available, etc. etc. Hopefully your wife will be able to stay with relatives while she is at the festival.

I always find it interesting that the Merrie Monarch is held at the same place as the Big Island Nurserymen's Association spring plant sale. You go there one week and the place is full of folks selling plants, it is a veritable jungle in there. Then, a week or so later, you're there and it's all been totally transformed into the premiere hula festival location. Of course, there are still a lot of plants and things, but folks are wearing them and dancing the hula.

The Edith Kanaole (that may not be spelled correctly) multi-purpose stadium also has dog shows and tennis matches, I think. But anyway, it is a long area roofed over with a flattish curved roof that is open at both ends. There are concrete bleachers going up around the perimeter and the interior flat area is always transformed for whatever event is happening there. It isn't all that large of a space for such a prestigious event.