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What you need to know about the 62nd annual Merrie Monarch Festival — and more

Hilo on the Big Island will once again become the hula capital of the world next week with the return of the annual Merrie Monarch Festival. The 62nd installment of the weeklong celebration of everything hula and Hawaiian runs from Easter Sunday, April 20, through April 26 this year.

One Hawai‘i Island hālau hula participating in this year’s Merrie Monarch hula competition

Twenty-two hālau hula are participating this year. Hālau Ka Lehua Pua Kamaehu, under the direction of Kumu Hula Kasie Puahala Kaleohano & Brandi Nohelani Barrett, is the only Big Island group participating in this year’s competition.

What you need to know about the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival

Get ready, world. The Merrie Monarch Festival returns next week with full regalia for the first time since 2019, and there’s just two days left until the celebration of hula and everything Hawaiian gets underway.

Reminder: Tickets for 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Hōʻike go on sale Sunday

Tickets for the non-competitive hula exhibition scheduled for Wednesday night, April 12, will be available in person from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or until they are sold out, at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium box office in Hilo.