Kumu Hula Micah Kamohoalii’s Hālau Nā Kīpuʻupuʻu gathered at the Grand Naniloa Hotel on Wednesday, April 8, to kick off the opening of a craft fair. Kamohoalli is the fashion designer of Dezigns by Kamohoalii, a vendor at the hotel fair, as well as at Merrie Monarch Festival’s Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair.
“We only dance kahiko, so drums, ipu, everything is pounding as hard as it could be,” Kamohoalii told Aloha State Daily on Thursday. “All the energy, the sweat is flying everywhere, and everybody's screaming and yelling.”
This week, Merrie Monarch Festival returned to Hilo for its 63rd annual event, which runs Sunday, April 5, through Saturday, April 11. The invite-only hula competition is held the last three days of the festival at the Edith Kanakaʻole Multi-Purpose Stadium. Tickets to see the events in person are sold out, but it is still possible catch the livestream from Hawaiʻi News Now.
Dezigns by Kamohoalii is a Hawaiʻi Island-based clothing company that draws inspiration from kapa makers, who created fabric from tree bark which was stamped with patterns and told stories. The clothing line has been featured in fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, among others, he said. Kamohoalii’s fashion has also been featured at Merrie Monarch’s Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair for more than 20 years.
“This is year 22,” he said.
The Merrie Monarch Festival’s Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair runs Wednesday, April 8, through Saturday, April 11. Over the years, Kamohoalii has noticed the invitational craft fair has grown significantly. There are also more more offsite fairs now.
“It's good and bad,” he said. “The good is that it's increasing the economy here, there and everywhere. The bad is that I feel like it's decreasing the quality.”
Despite the statewide storm, Hilo residents aren’t phased by precipitation, he added.
“We're used to rain,” Kamohoalii said. “Hilo people, they're not going to run away when it comes to rain. They'll dance in the rain.”
Like many other clothing designers, Dezigns by Kamohoalii planned special releases for Merrie Monarch. This year, those designs honor Laka, the hula goddess, and Haumea, Pele’s mother.
Episode 44 of Kīlauea volcano’s ongoing eruption ended last night after more than eight hours of continuous lava fountaining, according updates from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Kamohoalii was not surprised that the volcano erupted with "all the hālau here and every hālau will trek their hālau up to the volcano to make offerings," he said.
For him, the festival is an opportunity to connect with family.
“I look forward to seeing all the Hilo people,” Kamohoalii said. “I live in Waimea, which is an hour and a half away, and I don't come to Hilo as often as I used to because we opened stores on Oʻahu and go there for work. And then, we still have our store home in Waimea. But Hilo, when it's Merrie Monarch — everybody comes out. I have so much family in Hilo, and so it's so nice to see all of them because they know where we're at, so they'll come by, bring us lunch, or come hang out with us in the back.”
Often, family will jump in and help when the line backs up, he said.
“The energy in Hilo is sort of — what's the word — addictive, maybe,” Kamohoalii said. “People wear their best. They dress their best.”
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
