Hula dancers, award-winning Hawaiian musicians, craftspeople, vendors and activities for all ages will be at the San Mateo County Event Center Sunday for the 2022 Bay Area Aloha Concert.
This celebration of Pacific Islander culture in Northern California is organized by the Pacific Islanders’ Cultural Association, a local volunteer organization. This year’s concert is a scaled-back version of their annual Bay Area Aloha Festival.
“I’m really excited to see familiar faces,” Mary Leong, president of PICA, said. Leong said that though this year’s celebration is smaller than normal due to COVID-19, it is important that PICA connect with the community after a two-year festival hiatus.
“We just want people to know we’re still here,” Donna Ong-Kimura said, Leong’s co-chair on the PICA Board of Directors.
This is PICA’s 25th festival since its start in San Francisco in 1995.
Many vendors and performers at the concert have been participating in the festival for years. However, there is a new addition to this year’s celebration: Popular Hawaiian musician Josh Tatofi will be headlining the event.
Tatofi is a 2018 Grammy Award nominee and has won several accolades at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, including Male Vocalist of the Year and Island Music Album of the Year.
“It’s a real treat for us to have him, we feel really honored,” Ong-Kimura said.
Also performing are several other musicians, bands, and hula halaus, or schools. PICA Vice President Manley Bush, one of the festival’s original founders, will be performing with his band Ho’omana. Based in Monterey, the Hawaiian music group has been participating at the Aloha Festival for decades.
“[The festival] draws the islanders together,” said Bush, who was born and raised in Hawai’i.
Leong will be performing with Halau Ka Liko Pua O Kalaniakea, where she teaches hula. Ong-Kimura also dances with the halau.
“In the hula, you learn a lot about the culture [of the islands],” Leong said. “It’s not just about the dance. It’s about respect”
Halau Ka Liko Pua O Kalaniakea is one of several halaus performing, including Halau I Ka Wekiu, Halau Ke Kai O’Uhane and Halau Na Maka Olali.
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A variety of food will also be served, from fusion hot dogs to pork lau lau, shaved ice and more. There will be an “Ohana Korner” for children as well as lei making and raffle drawings. Hawaiian Airlines is an event sponsor, and will be awarding miles to raffle winners. Vendors and craftspeople will be selling handmade jewelry, soaps, desserts and more.
“I actually love the camaraderie, being around the people,” Debra Wilgus, founder of Kirstie’s Kookies in Antioch, said. Wilgus has been selling her Hawaiian-style cookies at the Aloha Festival since 1998. Her seven varieties of cookies include a shortbread oatmeal, which is an elementary school cafeteria staple in Hawai’i.
Like Leong, Wilgus said that the two-year break has been hard on her community.
“We’ve been missing [the Aloha Festival] for a long time,” she said.
Though working a full-time job means Wilgus spends entire weekends baking in her kitchen, she enjoys making cookies and going to festivals like this one.
“It reminds people of home,” she said about Kirstie’s Kookies.
The concert will have a large group of local government representatives in attendance, including from the San Francisco Police and Sheriff’s departments, the Santa Clara Police Department, the Air National Guard, and the San Mateo and Daly City Chambers of Commerce. Michael Guingona, the former mayor of Daly City and the first Filipino American on its City Council, will also be at the concert.
In addition to organizing the annual festival, PICA provides grants and scholarships to their community. It has participated in canoe restorations and other projects, and provide resources to the local Pacific Islander community like information on local businesses, restaurants and halaus. Bush said that the goal of the organization is to be a resource to the local Pacific Islander community.
One change from previous festivals is the price of tickets, which are being sold for $25. This is PICA’s first time charging money for entry, something Ong-Kimura said was necessary in hosting the concert this year. Admission for children under 5 is free.
“[The concert] is not really about making money,” she said. “It’s about making sure the community knows we’re there for them, that we’re still here, that we’re still providing scholarships.”
For Leong, one of the most “fulfilling” moments of any year’s festival is performing onstage. She feels supported by those in the crowd who have come to celebrate Pacific Islander culture.
“They’re there to enjoy, to relax, to share the aloha,” she said.
Go to pica-org.org for information about the concert.
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