On the last Saturday of July each year, a few hundred community members bring their horses, their classic cars and a variety of floats, trailers and walking units to Koloa School to march in a parade through old Koloa town to the Annie Knudsen Ballpark, commemorating Kauai’s plantation roots and celebrating its diverse cultures. 

The parade and park celebration that follows is the founding event of the Koloa Plantation Days festival, started 30 years ago on Kauai with a gathering by the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association and continued as an annual event with the support of then-Mayor Tony Kunimura and community members. Koloa was the site of the state’s first commercial sugar mill in 1835 and the festival started as a sesquicentennial celebration.

With the participation of local businesses, organizations and the visitor industry, the festival has grown into 10 days with over 30 events and activities featuring all aspects of plantation life and the Koloa area, including live music, “talk stories” on local history and plantation life, a rodeo weekend, guided historic walks and hikes, film nights and an exhibit, local ethnic foods and crafts, and keiki activities and games most of which are inexpensive or free to attend. Tony’s wife, Phyllis Kunimura, today is still president of Koloa Plantation Days and its guiding force.

Today Koloa Plantation Days is recognized and supported as a major festival by the Hawaii Tourism Authority through the Signature Events Program which has brought technology, new audiences and resources to help support the festival’s mission to commemorate and celebrate local plantation history. 

Volunteers come from area resorts, businesses, local nonprofits and the Koloa community to talk story, share memories, remember old friends and pass on cultural traditions and information on local area history information with visitors and residents alike. Many repeat visitors come each year to discover what’s new, bring their families, and soak in the atmosphere.

Phyllis Kunimura reminds us each year that what makes this event so special is that it is both a community festival and one that is treasured by our visitors. You’ll find grandparents sharing where and how they grew up alongside visitors eager to learn about the origin of local foods and music and hear stories of life in the plantation camps. On the 25th anniversary, Gov. George Ariyoshi, with his wife, was welcomed back to Koloa as that year’s parade grand marshal. He was blown away by the atmosphere and authenticity and told Phyllis, “you have to keep doing this.”

As a lifelong teacher and educator, Phyllis impresses upon us how important it is to get the younger generation involved and cultivate an interest in sharing local culture and history so that it can be passed on to future generations of residents and visitors. Since the last sugar plantation on Kauai closed in 2009, and as the generation who lived the sugar era gets older, this mission to share these experiences and perpetuate this tradition for future generations has become stronger.

Each year the committee meets to think up new ideas to keep the festival vibrant and relevant –inviting new participants and welcoming new events to deepen the connection between Koloa’s plantation roots and its diverse visitor offering and community today. Phyllis persuaded some former students from years ago who grew up with the festival to join the committee and the board. Last year, “Aunty” Stella Burgess, our parade coordinator, passed on, but not before she had trained and passed the torch to young Arryl Kaneshiro teaming with his retired Koloa schoolteacher, Cheryl Shintani. This year, the theme is fittingly, “The Legacy Lives On.”

Melissa McFerrin Warrack is the event committee chairwoman and coordinator of the Koloa Plantation Days festival, which takes place this year July 17-26.