What Happened to the Hawaii Aloha Festivals in 2008?

[Kathie Fry]

Does anybody have the inside scoop on what happened with the Hawaii Aloha Festivals in 2008? This year all of the events were on Oahu Island and as far as I can tell, there was no Oahu Falsetto Contest at all. Or if there was one, I missed it, and I will be totally bummed out if somebody tells me that's what happened.

At least some of the islands seem to have created their own Aloha-Festival-like events:

MAUI: Festivals of Aloha (PDF) (Sep 12 - Oct 18)
HAWAII: Hawaii Island Festival (Aug 30 - Sep 28)
OAHU: Original Aloha Festivals Event (Sep 11-20)
KAUAI: None that I know of

I did hear the 62nd Annual Aloha Festivals Floral Parade in Waikiki was in danger of being cancelled in 2008, but it was saved when local businesses and organizations were able to raise the required $50,000 to fund it. That leads me to believe the overall Aloha Festivals event was downsized due to lack of funding to support outer island events. But I am only guessing here. I haven't seen any details published, even in the local newspapers. Does anybody know the real story?

- Kathie

[Kathie Fry]

I just came across an article that at least partly explains why the 2008 Aloha Festivals events were so abbreviated, and why the events were only held on Oahu Island. According to this December 14, 2008 Maui News article, many of the 2007 Aloha Festivals vendors never got paid. And Maui County is wondering what happened to the nearly $40,000 grant they gave to the Aloha Festivals, since many of the Maui County (Maui, Molokai and Lanai) vendors never got paid for 2007 expenses. Here is the full article:

Shortfall of Aloha Festivals Funds "Disturbing"
(Maui News article dated December 14, 2008)

I wonder if the Aloha Festivals organization will ever be able to recover from this? Such a shame...

- Kathie

[Kathie Fry]

More about the status of the Hawaii Aloha Festivals:

According to the January 24, 2009 Honolulu Star Bulletin article entitled "Aloha Festivals To Pay out $40,000" the Aloha Festivals organization will use the money they made on the 2008 Oahu Aloha Festivals events to pay a portion of what they owe to 2007 Aloha Festivals event organizers and suppliers in Maui County. Also according to this article, the Aloha Festivals organization no longer has an executive director and they now promote Oahu events only.

- Kathie