Community Calendar

Join Bishop Museum Planetarium educators and Hōkūleʻa navigator and Honolulu Community College Hoʻokele Instructor Kaʻiulani Murphy for Navigating by the Stars! Each talk will include an introduction to the night sky and celestial navigation and will feature the Hawaiian star line most prominent that month. This month’s featured Hawaiian star line is Mānaiakalani.

August 9 - September 4, 2025

Join us on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, 6-8pm for the Opening Reception. Meet & greet and photo viewing. Michael Caputo's photographs from work as a firefighter, developed & printed at the Hawaii Darkroom in Hilo.

@aloha_bigmike

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 10:30 am - starting on January 3rd, 2025. Reservations are recommended. Call (808) 768-7135.

Here are some additional details:

Public Tours of Foster Botanical Garden resume in January 2025!

Volunteer docents will conduct tours on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., rain or shine.

Docents just completed a six-week training and are eager to engage the public meaningfully.

On these tours, docents will provide an overview and some details of some of the gardenʻs seven sections. No two tours are the same—different docents bring different background knowledge and life experiences. All are passionate about plants.

Please call (808) 768-7135 to reserve your spot.

Tours are limited to about 20 people and are included in the price of admission ($5 for visitors, $3 for residents, $1 for children).

For school or other organized groups, please call the number above to discuss differentiated tour options.

Foster Botanical Garden has a rich history and a world-renowned collection. Here are some quick facts:
-14 acre historic garden opened to the public in 1930
- Dedicated to the “people of Hawai’i” by Mary Elizabeth Mikahala Robinson Foster
- Portions once owned by Queen Kalama
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
- Oldest of the five gardens and the headquarters of the Honolulu Botanical Gardens
- Home to 21 “Exceptional Trees” protected by City Ordinance

“Yokai Parade: Supernatural Monsters from Japan” is a world-traveling exhibition produced by the prestigious Tokyo-based Japan Foundation. The exhibit presents Japan’s fascinating yokai culture through Japanese scrolls, woodblock prints, toys and films curated by Koichi Yumoto, regarded as one of Japan’s foremost experts on the subject. “Yokai Parade” traces the transformation of these supernatural beings from fearsome monsters to less scary – even charming – figures through contemporary media arts.

This exhibit is a collaboration between the renowned Japan Foundation, the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu, and the Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo.

A fascination with yokai traveled from Japan to Hawaii along with the thousands of Japanese immigrants who traversed the Pacific Ocean to work as laborers on Hawaii’s sugarcane plantations in the 1800s to the early 1900s. Taking on a form and identity of their own in Hawaii, yokai are better known in the islands as “obake.”

The importance of legends, myths, ghosts, and the supernatural in general was shared by the many ethnic groups in Hawaii, from the indigenous Hawaiians to Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Puerto Rican, Filipino and other immigrants who settled in the islands.

“Yokai Parade: Supernatural Monsters from Japan” will run from August 2 to August 30 at the Hawaii Japanese Center, 751 Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo. Public viewing hours are Wednesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, email info@hawaiijapanesecenter.com or call (808) 934-9611.

A benefit night for Pueos and our local Honolulu Zoo!

Tap into your wild side at the Brews for the Zoo night hosted by the Honolulu Zoo Society!

Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025 | 5PM - 8PM
Hosted at: Aloha Beer Co - 700 Queen St

Join us in the Beer Garden for an evening in support of our native Hawaiian Pueo, Makamae!
Enjoy Pueo themed trivia, prizes, Pueo Pale Ale beer, great food, drinks, and good vibes. Best of all, proceeds from the evening benefit the Honolulu Zoo Society, Aloha 'Aina Fund and their local conservation efforts.

Brews for the Zoo is a Family-Friendly, Dog-Friendly event. Bring the whole crew!

Wednesdays at Highway Inn Waipahu and Thursdays at Highway Inn Kaka‘ako feature a rotating lineup of local musicians perform from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Wednesdays at Waipahu feature Kapono Na‘ili’ili with Kata Maduli, Mistyreis and Mista Lawri, and Meldon Leong of Kapili Band with Scott Medeiros. Thursdays at Kaka‘ako feature Barrett Awai and Kevin Inn, Meldon Leong of Kapili Band with Scott Medeiros, and Jackie Burke. See myhighwayinn.com for the weekly schedule.

Join saxophone prodigy Kenny Panek with his quartet performing a range of jazz standards and bebop classics.

Enjoy live music from the talented local guitarist and singer, Darin Cumpston. He will performing relaxing sunset vibes at Hula's Bar & Lei Stand, Waikiki, from 6pm to 9pm. The event is free and welcome to adults 21+.

"Smother" is a hilarious play about Marcia, a bossy but well-intentioned mother, who cooks up increasingly outlandish schemes to control her daughter, Julia's, love life. Unfortunately, Julia has a track record of hooking up with loser boyfriends, and Marcia vows to change that. Ultimately, Marcia learns by seeking professional help, and through the efforts of those who love her, how to let go.....maybe.

August 9 - September 4, 2025

Join us on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, 6-8pm for the Opening Reception. Meet & greet and photo viewing. Michael Caputo's photographs from work as a firefighter, developed & printed at the Hawaii Darkroom in Hilo.

@aloha_bigmike