Do It: ESPN Sports Fest, Surf Film Fest, Snakehips

SATURDAY

>> Sports festival returns with fun for family

Have some family fun and check out your sports skills at the ESPN Sports Festival, which returns to the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall on Saturday, featuring displays of the latest in sports and health-and-fitness products.

The festival, presented by local radio station ESPN, gives youngsters a chance to try their hand at various sports, from shooting a basketball to taking a swing at a baseball, pictured, or throwing a football or testing jumping ability.

Traditional Hawaiian sports will be featured at a Makahiki Games zone, presented by Kamehameha Schools. Strength contests such as pa uma (standing arm wrestling) and honuhonu (wrestling in a seated position) will be demonstrated, as well as skill-oriented games like kulakulai (a hand-slapping game) and ulu maika (a bowlinglike game using stones).

Action Zone Wrestling, the local professional wrestling organization, will demonstrate athletes’ hammerlocks and leglocks in matches scheduled for 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. And the University of Hawaii cheerleading squad will be debuting its team for the upcoming football season at 3 p.m.

SATURDAY-AUG. 2

>> Surfing movies will be shown during an annual monthlong festival

The Honolulu Surf Film Festival returns this month, bringing 21 of the baddest, raddest wave-riding movies to the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Kicking off the 10th annual festival is “Proximity,” by director Taylor Steele (“Missing”), who paired four great surf champions with four young hotshots, including world champion John John Florence, as they go on soul-searching surf surfaris. Also featured are 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, six-time women’s champ Stephanie Gilmore, pictured, big-wave riders Shane Dorian and Albee Layer, activist Dave Rastovich and stylish riders Rob Machado and Craig Anderson.

Opening night, Saturday, includes food by Eat Honolulu and entertainment by sax player (and surfer) Reggie Padilla and his Jazz Ensemble, followed by the film. Steele will be on hand to discuss “Proximity,” along with Daniel Ikaika Ito, former Free Surf Magazine editor. “Proximity” also screens at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m. Wednesday, 1 p.m. July 19 and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2.

Other festival highlights:

Women drop in on the surf movie scene with “Surf Like a Girl,” a collection of eight short films. They screen together at 4 p.m. July 8, 7:30 p.m. July 12 and 7:30 p.m. July 16.

“Nervous Laughter”: The next generation of Jaws surfers gets its due in this film about a group of surfers who grew up watching the monster wave be tamed and are now getting their shot. Filmed during the gnarly 2016 El Nino season. Screens at 7:30 p.m. July 8, 1 p.m. July 14 and 7:30 p.m. July 18.

Modern technology has made surf films so crystal clear it feels like you’re in the water, but in a way, grainy, fuzzy images do, too. The festival also will screen several classic oldies: “Morning of the Earth,” an Australian film exploring the counterculture aspect of the sport, 7:30 p.m. July 20; “Pacific Vibrations,” by the late Hall of Fame surfer John Severson and featuring a great soundtrack, 7:30 p.m. July 13 (admission free); Bruce Brown’s “The Endless Summer,” 7:30 p.m. July 27; and Bud Browne’s “Going Surfin’,” 6 p.m. July 30. ($25-$30)

SUNDAY

>> U.K. EDM duo slides in with dance club hits

Snakehips, a fast-rising British EDM duo, brings its smooth, synth sound to The Republik this weekend.

The team of Oliver Lee and James Carter have been working together for only three years, but they scored a hit with “All My Friends,” featuring Tinashe and Chance the Rapper, both of whom have performed in Hawaii in recent years to warm reception. The song contrasted Tinashe’s cool R&B sound, voicing a sense of romantic loneliness, with Chance the Rapper’s hip-hop lyrics exploring the sense of loss brought on by drug abuse.

“All My Friends” peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs for the U.S. in May 2016, and also charted throughout Western European nations and in Australia and New Zealand.

Earlier this year Snakehips released “Don’t Leave,” with Danish singer MO. It has charted throughout Europe as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

And where does the name “Snakehips” come from? Lee has said it was his nickname first, because of his “bizarre” dance moves.

THURSDAY-JULY 7

>> One can count on McCain to set the scene for love

Romantic rocker Edwin McCain comes to Blue Note Hawaii in a night well suited to scoring some points with one’s significant other.

The Greenville, S.C., native’s blend of Southern soul and romantic rock has produced a legion of fans over his more than 20-year career, getting an early boost with his association with Hootie & the Blowfish in the 1990s.

He scored a hit with 1998’s “I’ll Be,” which reached N0. 5 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart and was in the top 10 in three other charts. That song propelled his album “Misguided Roses” to No. 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and became a favorite at weddings. A second hit came a year later with “I Could Not Ask for More,” which reached No. 37 on the Top 100 chart.

Last year he released his first album in four years, appropriately named “Oh Edwin, Where Art Thou?” It’s a question that might best be answered by watching his show on the Animal Planet network, “Flipping Ships,” in which he restores old boats.