Hilo lantern floating event honors loved ones, supports hospice care

Lanterns carrying names, memories and handwritten tributes will again drift off Reeds Bay Beach Park, turning one of Hilo’s largest gatherings into a shared act of remembrance and a fundraiser for hospice care. For many East Hawaii families, the 22nd annual Celebration of Life is not just a public event but a visible place to grieve, honor and heal together.

Hawaii Care Choices said the free event will be held Sunday, May 24, from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Reeds Bay Beach Park, 251 Banyan Drive, Hilo, with shuttle service from Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. The nonprofit expects more than 2,500 attendees, and public listings describe it as the Big Island’s largest lantern floating ceremony. Families can decorate luminaries at the site, while food vendors, andagi donuts, T-shirts and community resources will be available throughout the afternoon.

The event also serves a direct care purpose. Proceeds from luminary sales and pop-up sales at KTA Puainako support hospice families and bereavement services provided by Hawaii Care Choices, the organization formerly known as Hospice of Hilo. Hawaii Care Choices says it has served palliative, hospice and bereavement needs from Laupāhoehoe to South Point, Kaū since 1983, and the Celebration of Life has become one part of a broader calendar that also includes healthcare talkstory webinars and a holiday Season of Light gathering.

The program will begin with a traditional Bon dance led by the Hilo Bon Dance Club and Tsukikage Odori Kai Dancers, marking the opening of the Obon season. From there, the evening will move through mele, hula, chant, multi-faith prayers, blessings and live music before the lanterns are released into the water at sunset. Public listings say the ceremony is rooted in Native Hawaiian practices such as oli, pule, mele and hula, while also honoring Japanese Bon dance traditions.

The event’s scale is part of its meaning. Year after year, families return to the shoreline to personalize lanterns for loved ones who have died, joining a ritual that has lit East Hawaii waters for nearly two decades and now enters its 22nd year. In a county where grief can feel private and scattered, Reeds Bay offers a rare public space where remembrance, culture and practical support meet in the same evening.