Announcing the Kona Steel Guitar Festival

July 24, 2022 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

Another Hawaiian steel guitar festival joins the ranks of steel guitar festivals produced in Hawai‘i by HIMELE.

The all-new Kona Steel Guitar Festival will make its debut in 2023 at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa.

The Kona festival was developed in response to the relocation of the Aloha Music Camp from Kaua‘i to Keauhou. This new festival will allow festival guests and Aloha Music Camp participants to continue to enjoy the experience they have previously had in Kaua‘i. As with prior year festivals, the Kona festival will be held in the days preceding the Aloha Music Camp.

Michelle Quirk, Group Sales Manager for the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa, says, "I'm looking forward to welcoming you to Keauhou next year!"

The format of the Kona festival will closely follow the format of Kaua‘i festivals, with exhibits, workshops, kanikapila jam sessions, Open Stage, and main ho‘olaule‘a concerts. HIMELE hopes that school visitations can also be arranged with local area schools.

The Kona festival will be the second annual festival to be offered on Hawai‘i Island. HIMELE plans to continue both the Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Experience at Mauna Lani, as well as the Kaua‘i Steel Guitar Festival.

The festival will be held on March 24-25, 2023, preceding the 2023 Aloha Music Camp. Additional information about the festival will be posted on the festival's Facebook page and website when it becomes available.

Support for the festival comes from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority through the Kūkulu Ola Program, administered by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Laurence H. Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation.