Kauai Ukulele Festival Brings Generations, Schools, Makers Together at Kukui Grove

The Kolohe Ukulele Club of Huntington Beach, California, likely traveled the farthest to reach the Kauai Ukulele Festival at Kukui Grove Center, giving Sunday’s free gathering an immediate sense of reach beyond the island. Their presence sat alongside local performers, school groups and makers, turning the annual event into a working example of how the ukulele still links visitors, students and island businesses in one place.

The 2026 festival ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 19 at Kukui Grove Center in Līhue, with free workshops held the day before at the AG Ukulele Academy. Organizers framed the two-day format around hands-on learning, live entertainment, mele, culture and creativity, a broader setup that pushed the festival beyond a single stage show and into a full weekend of instruction and community contact.

That educational side remained central. Mary Lardizabal, the musical director of the Kapaa Middle School Chorus and Ukulele Band, said the California group had visited her class at Kapaa Middle School on Friday, and that the visitors had shown up to support the students while her own group was in Anaheim for a competition. The exchange underscored how the festival functioned as a network for young players, not just a performance slot for established acts.

The lineup also reflected how deeply the event was rooted in Kauai. Along with the Kolohe Ukulele Club and Kapaa Middle School, the program highlighted Aldrine Guerrero, Aaron Nakamura and the Poipū/Southshore/Westside Ukulele Ohana. The festival website says Kukui Grove has hosted the Kauai Ukulele Festival since 2001, and its history includes performances by the Līhue Seniors, Hanalei School, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School and King Kaumualii Elementary School.

For local makers, the festival also doubled as a small economic marketplace. Hanalei Strings featured Kala brand ukuleles and Island Ukulele instruments made after Raymond Rapozo’s business was purchased, while a Niihau ohana offered pupu jewelry. That mix of instruments, craftsmanship and student participation gave the festival a broader island economy role, showing how a single community event can support music instruction, sales and cultural identity at the same time.