The Merrie Monarch Hula Festival began 59 years ago in Hilo as an attempt to bring in tourist revenue in the wake of the devastating 1961 tsunami. After the festival’s pandemic-induced two-year hiatus, local businesses are taking advantage of crowds eager to do some Merrie Monarch-related shopping.
It was a busy morning Tuesday inside the Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo as Merrie Monarch Craft Fair vendors assembled their makeshift booths and unpacked crates of their latest goods.
"We did the bulk of it and then we ran out of hangers."
Lihau Paik and her husband Kellen Paik are newbies to the Merrie Monarch Craft Fair vendor scene. They recently bought the Kauaʻi-based Hawaiian clothing company Puahina.
"Are we crazy? No, no, no. We only bought this business seven weeks ago. And literally the day after we finalized everything, they called us and said, 'So we just found out the Merrie Monarch Craft Fairs are on.' I was like, 'What?'" Lihau Paik told Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
Puahina is known best for its soft-to-the-touch fabrics and simple and elegant design. It is one of 140 vendors hoping to capitalize on the return of the craft fair this year.
"This year the craft fair is a little smaller than normal," said Kegan Miura, the co-director of this year’s Merrie Monarch Craft Fair, along with Tracey Niimi and Taylor Escalona.
"Still a lot, it’s great to see that number. Hilo hasn’t really had something that big in a long time. So, after two years, kind of excited to see Hilo wake up again and everyone come out all excited," Miura said.
The craft fair isn’t the only venue competing for Merrie Monarch shoppers, says Hawaiʻi County Mayor Mitch Roth.
"There’s of course the hotels and restaurants and other businesses in town, people are buying flowers and things like that. So, it really does help our community in so many ways. Keeping the dollars on our island versus sending them out to other places, it's pretty huge for us," Roth said.
The annual hula festival brings in about $6 million in visitor spending to Hawaiʻi Island, according to a 2018 study by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.
Local visitor industry expert George Applegate says boosting tourist spending was exactly the point.
"Now remember the perception of tourism was Waikīkī Beach, white sand beach, and surfers, and that was it. And we did not have that. So they put their heads together and came up with the idea that we have hula. And wasnʻt popular at the time, and why not try?" Applegate said.
He says it was a rough beginning because no one understood hula. The festival popularized the practice and boosted Hawaiian cultural pride, which he says was key to its economic success.
"We never knew how special we were, you know — was really sad. For me, the Merrie Monarch was a renaissance of the new movement where Hawaiians learned to be proud of themselves, learned their language, and look at us today so proud to be Hawaiian everybody wished they were Hawaiian but that’s another discussion," Applegate told HPR.
The Merrie Monarch Craft Fair kicked off Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium and Butler Buildings. It will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
