Made in Hawaii Festival

Friday, 19 Aug 2005 | Travel

We all had a wonderful time at the Made in Hawaii Festival at the Neal Blaisdell Center today. I thought for sure Erina and Toni would find the event tedious and boring since we were going there mainly to see Raiatea Helm perform her Hawaiian Music. Much to my surprise, Erin and Toni loved it! Erin loved that it was a swap meet shopping atmosphere with all kinds of booths. Toni, not ordinarily a shopper, enjoyed the displayed products very much too.

The first thing we did was make a beeline for the concert area to get front row seats to see Raiatea. She's a Hawaiian music singer that my dad and I reallly enjoy. We both have her two albums and love to listen to them over and over. The concert was short, but very entertaining. Raiatea has a beautiful voice which sounds just as good in person as on her recordings. She played the ukelele and was accompanied by her dad on guitar and a steel guitar and bass. My dad had a wonderful time listening to her perform."

Before the concert began, I took a little time to go check out the merchandise with Erin. There were all sorts of food and products to see and taste. A booth selling silver rings caught Erin's eye. I saw a silver Honu pendant that I thought Toni would like.

Later, we returned to the silver ring display. There was a bin with hundreds of rings of various sizes and thicknesses. Toni and Erin eached picked out 2 rings of their choce. Then I took Toni to see the Honu pendant I had spied earlier. She fell in love with it immediately, so I had to get it for her. She has a silver necklace I bought for her in Monterey and a gold necklace I got for her at the Hale Koa PX. I had bought her a black sandal pendant in yellow gold last year in Hawaii, but she didn't have a necklace to wear it with until now. She was very happy with the Honu pendant. I love that I know her so well and can pick out things she'll enjoy. :D

We were hungry from browsing the booths, so we decided to get some food at the show. Toni and I had Teriyaki Chicken with Rice and my dad got Beef Stew with Rice. The Teriyaki Chicken was very flavorful. I was surprised how good it was for this sort of venue. I noticed the locals called it Teri Chicken. Erin decided to try a Boba drink with Tapioca and Pineapple. It was the first time she had this type of drink, but liked it a lot. The rest of us weren't too thrilled with it. I couldn't get used to the huge straw with Tapioca and fruit projectiles flying through it. Boy, I'm a poor excuse for a half Asian, huh? Erin ordered some Garlic Fries which were yummy, but did a number on your breath! They weren't on the menu, but she heard someone order them and thought they sounded good.

The Made in Hawaii Festival was definitely a lot of fun and inexpensive too. It was only $2 each for admission including free concerts. We'll definitely do that again if we're in town when it's held in the future.

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