Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament

The 57th Annual Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament opening ceremony will be held on Sunday, July 31, at Kailua Pier in on Kailua-Kona.

Families and community members are invited to attend throughout the day as the Kailua Pier comes to life with food booths, arts and crafts, and music and celebration.

Leading up to the 5 p.m. opening ceremony, Ka‘ahumanu Place, fronting the Kailua Pier, will close to vehicles Saturday and become a family-friendly event with food booths and food truck, craft vendors and free musical entertainment.

Traditional hula dancers with modern influences and music will perform during the opening ceremony, a special treat for all attendees.

The event is free and open to the public. Bleacher seats are first-come, first-seated.

The prestigious Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament adheres to strict International Game Fish Association rules for world records.

The tournament starts Monday, Aug. 1, and continues through Friday, Aug. 6, 2016.

Twenty-seven teams from around the world are headed to fish the world-famous waters off the Kona Coast and a chance of capturing the HIBT’s prestigious governor’s trophy.

HIBT event headquarters, retail and tournament control will be at Courtyard Marriott King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach.

Kailua Pier is a great place to watch the iconic tournament start each morning at 8 a.m., as boats line up across Historic Kailua Bay.

Then, in the afternoon come on down to the hum of scoreboard action as teams arrive back at the pier with fish flags flying.

Spectators can expect to see lots of scoreboard action as teams weigh in their big fish at the end of fishing each day at 4 p.m. at Kailua Pier.

Last year, USA’s Team Likeke captured the HIBT win with an impressive 2,296 points on the leaderboard. Australia took second and Japan finished the top three.

While on the pier, everyone is welcome to visit and shop the HIBT boutique tent, with great tournament shirts, bags and retail items for everyone.

For more tournament information and daily team standings, go online.