Hilo welcomes 50 U.S. Navy sailors for four days of community engagements

Hilo welcomes roughly 50 U.S. Navy sailors this week for a concentrated, four-day slate of community service projects, school engagements, informational displays and music performances as part of the Navy’s Road Trip to 250 celebration. The local events are free and include a University of Hawai‘i at Hilo service project, daily performances by the U.S. Pacific Fleet Band and static displays at area venues.

The Navy Office of Community Outreach lists Hawaii Navy Week statewide from March 9 to 15, and local outlets report Hilo’s activities are a concentrated four-day block within that statewide window. Honolulu will host larger public events during the same tour, including sailor participation in the Honolulu Festival Grand Parade in Waikiki, while Hilo programming focuses on volunteer work and education with community partners on the Big Island.

Three hometown sailors feature prominently in Hilo outreach. Petty Officer 2nd Class Canyon Barrilleaux, a 2023 Hilo High School graduate and information systems technician assigned to a naval telecommunications station on Oahu, described the trip as a homecoming. Petty Officer 3rd Class Logan Neves, a 2022 Kohala High School graduate assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 37, said, “The military and Navy presence is not much on the Big Island, so people there have these beliefs they create about what the military is like and what it’s not. So, I feel like just being actually from there, born and raised there, for them to hear that from me as a Hawaiian person myself, it will put those beliefs to rest. I could set some of those beliefs straight and ease some of those thoughts, and maybe even get them to choose this career path.” Petty Officer 2nd Class Maka Marote, a 2016 Waiakea High School graduate and aviation structural mechanic with HSM-37 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, recently completed his fifth deployment and will also take part in local activities. Lt. Madison Kwok of the Navy Office of Community Outreach calls Barrilleaux, Marote and Neves “hometown heroes.”

Hilo partners named for volunteer and outreach work include Volcanoes National Park, OK Farms, Lavaloha Farms and Carve4Vets. Educational visits are scheduled with University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, Kamehameha Schools and Hilo-Waiakea Schools. Static displays and demonstrations are planned at the Mokupapapa Discovery Center, Kilauea Military Camp, spelled in some Navy materials as Kileauea Military Camp, and Pana‘ewa Zoo & Gardens. U.S. Pacific Fleet Band performances are listed at Rainbow Falls, the Hilo Public Library and the Mooheau Bandstand. West Hawaii Today published a schedule snippet showing a University of Hawaii service project set for Monday from 8 a.m. to noon.

Cmdr. Julie Holland, director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach, framed the mission: “We’re excited to bring Navy Week to Hawaii for the first time and continue the 2026 tour in this vital part of the Pacific. Hawaii has long been a cornerstone of our Navy’s presence, and this event is a great opportunity to strengthen the bond between our sailors and the community while celebrating the Aloha spirit and Hawaii’s strategic role in our nation’s defense.” An unnamed NAVCO representative told West Hawaii Today, “When we do these outreach projects, we are looking at places that don’t have a naval concentration. We don’t have that on Big Island, so our job is to connect the Navy to those places, and that’s why we integrate these hometown sailors so much. They are how we connect back to those communities.”

Local coverage in West Hawaii Today and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald includes courtesy photos and additional schedule details. Statewide Navy Week runs through March 15, and Hilo’s four-day program is positioned to highlight community ties and recruitment messaging as the larger Road Trip to 250 tour continues across the islands. Local reporter Stefan Verbano can be reached at sverbano@hawaiitribune-herald.com.