Today’s festivities began at Kalama Park in Kihei for the Maui Whale Festival, hosted by Pacific Whale Foundation.  This annual event helps bring awareness to locals and visitors about the Humpback Whales that visit Maui every winter.

The day began with a keiki parade and Eco-Day Conference for the kids.  Throughout the day visitors enjoyed arts and crafts booths, local restaurant food, live music, and plenty of jumping houses for the kids.  Tonight “Laugh @ Da Park” will commence under a large tent where locally farmed food will be served with live jazz from the Fulton Tashombe Quartet and a comedy show to top it off.

This marks the 30th year of this fun festival.  If you get a chance to go tomorrow, you won’t be disappointed.  Make sure to wear sunblock and maybe even bring a chair.  Scripts can be purchased for food and drinks (no alcohol).  Vendors selling crafts accept cash.

MAUI WHALE WATCHING

If you plan on doing a whale watch in Maui, check out this comprehensive list of Maui Whale Watch Tours. There are many boats leaving from Lahaina Harbor, Maalaea Harbor, Kihei Boat Ramp, and on the beach in Makena.  Humpback whales visit every winter from December to May and it’s a wonderful thing to experience up close.

Bring some friends, a camera and some sun screen and enjoy the sights and sounds of surface behavior from our visiting Humpback Whales.

We regularly complain about how we don’t get a lot of talent to Maui, relatively.  But after seeing the John Legend concert at the Castle Theatre on Thursday, we’d like to take all that back.

Yes, it’s true: we don’t get a lot of big acts on Maui.  It’s rare, but we do here and there.  What makes up for this is that the shows are usually in small venues, and less expensive than mainland shows.

An example: The Castle Theatre at the MACC is a small venue with some great acts.  The outside venue at the MACC is also amazing.  It’s a bigger venue but still much smaller than a normal outdoor mainland venue.  Another example would be the recent show by Willie Nelson and Band of Horses that was held in Paia for Free!  They played at Charley’s which only holds just over 100 people.  A great venue if you can get in!

Maui also gets some great Reggae.  Even though bands like Aerosmith may cancel due to it being too small and too little money (if that was the case) we do get some big names in Reggae like Steel Pulse, Israel Vibrations and more…

John Legend put on a great show for us.  Maui may not have the choice of music that we’d like, but when someone good like John Legend does show up, we’re lucky to get him in a small venue.

We recently caught up with Tamera, head wedding coordinator for Akia Weddings & Events.  She told us about the great weddings she’s enjoyed putting together lately and shared some photos with us.  All of the photos on this page are from one of her latest Maui beach weddings.

“Most brides choose to get married in the summer on Maui.  The weather is usually best during this time on the South and West side of the island.  One thing many couples don’t realize is that the weather is pretty consistent throughout the year in these areas.

Sometimes choosing a wedding off-season can save you and your guests a lot of money.  These are some of the things we like to discuss with you to help keep you in budget without losing out on all the wonderful details you want at your wedding”

There are a million things to do when you get married, and we know that you’ve come to Maui because it’s has gorgeous locations and you want to cut down on some of the stress.  This is where we see Akia Weddings help brides the most.  Having a Maui wedding planner makes everything easier.  And that’s what your wedding should be: easy, enjoyable, and unforgettable!

Maui Beach Wedding Tips

• Make sure you know what time the sun sets before you plan the timing of your wedding.  Consult your wedding photographer for the best time to shoot post-wedding photos.
• Hawaii is Windy!  Make sure you’ve got enough product in your hair to keep things from going awry.
• If you’re wearing a strapless dress, or any type of wedding dress that could possibly show tan lines, make certain that you use sunblock before your wedding.  Better yet, buy a strapless bikini to be safe.  This tip pertains to both large and small Maui weddings, and we mention it because it is all too often a problem.
• Make sure you have parking and transportation arranged for your different locations.  Nothing is worse than having a group of guest late to the wedding because of insufficient parking.  Your wedding planner can help you with this.
• Make sure the beach you choose allows you to have a wedding there.  Some beaches (ex. Kaanapali Beach) do not allow any commercial wedding activity on the sand.
• Understand that if you’re getting married on a public beach, there may be other weddings in progress.  Some beaches are more popular than others for weddings.  you may want to reserve a private estate on the sand.  This way there’s no guess work.
• When your Groom is deciding on his Maui wedding attire, keep in mind that Hawaii is hot!  If you’re in the sun with a 3 piece suit, it might be a very short wedding.

We hope a few of these tips were helpful.  If you have more questions about your upcoming wedding, speak to the Maui Wedding Planners at Akia Weddings.  They’ll start you off on the right foot and make sense of your destination wedding in Hawaii.

Call Tamera at (808) 870-5525 to start planning today!

Thank you Natalie Brown for allowing us to post your beautiful wedding photos.  Cheers!

This coming Halloween, 2008, will be the first in decades to not enjoy the cheerful costume contests and local booths in Banyan Tree Park. The Maui County Cultural Resources Commission denied permits for costume contests, live outdoor stages, and food and craft booths. Their reasoning behind this is to curb indecent and lewd behavior and to preserve the historical significance of the town. They maintain that the events surrounding Halloween do nothing to promote Lahaina’s cultural history.

There are 2, among many, reasons why the Cultural Commission has failed in their thinking.

- They feel that the Halloween event takes away from the cultural identity of the town. Please keep in mind that Lahaina is as well known for its whaling than the Ali’i that used to congregate here. Does every event have to reflect ancient Hawaiian history? It’s important to continue promoting the cultural significance of an area, but shutting down a successful event just because it doesn’t directly have historical references is rediculous.

When we say “successful event” we mean to state that it is one of the more peaceful and positive celebrations in Hawaii. Opponents will refer to the 24 arrests made last year for disorderly conduct. We ask them to name any event with anywhere from 25,000-35,000 attendees where there haven’t been some bad apples. When you do the math, the fraction of disruptive individuals compared to orderly attendees is miniscual.

- The one event being granted a permit for this Halloween in Lahaina will be the Keiki Costume parade. In their thinking, Keiki’s dressed as ghosts and cowboys are far less culturally destructive than an adult wearing a similar costume. What the Commission seems to be ignoring is that with less outdoor activities, adults will be forced to spend more time in the various bars that will be holding costume contests. This will lead to more alcohol consumption and more arrests due to drunk driving and disorderly conduct. If they would continue to allow outdoor activities (where alcohol is forbidden), Lahaina is more likely to see order and cheerful behavior.

The nighttime excitement of Halloween is always positive. This atmosphere is conducive to family fun and the Aloha Spirit. Lahaina Town is famous for its gatherings through the centuries. Promoting Ohana and Aloha is the real historical significance that should be respected and upheld.

Even though the events will be trimmed down, Halloween in Lahaina, Maui will again thrive this year with vehicular traffic being traded for costumed foot traffic. Hopefully after the commission sees how their ill attempts and closing the event are ineffective, maybe they will bring back permits for the many fun activities that we’ve enjoyed for almost 2 decades.