Hard Rock Cafe Hono­lulu celebrates rock icon Freddie Mercury’s 72nd birthday with a benefit Sept. 5.

Buy a 2018 “Freddie for a Day” pin or wearable mustache and proceeds will go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which funds projects that battle HIV/AIDS.

Mercury, lead singer for the band Queen, died in 1991 from AIDS.

In keeping with the theme there will be live music from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., birthday cake served from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., and diners are invited to dress like Freddie all day.

Pins will be $14; mustaches $2.

Hard Rock is at 280 Beachwalk in Waikiki. Call 955-7383 or go to hardrock.com/cafes/honolulu.

CAMPUS RESTAURANTS REOPENING

Student-run restaurants at Leeward Community College and Kapiolani Community College will soon reopen for the fall semester.

These restaurants are part of the schools’ culinary training, which means that for letting the students practice on your dining party, you get an upscale meal for a not-so-upscale price.

The Pearl at LCC opens Sept. 5, part of the culinary school’s Contemporary Cuisines course.

The menu on opening day offers entree items of salmon crusted with sun-dried tomato and herbed goat cheese, seared scallops with pea puree, chicken roulade with chardonnay spinach or a vegetarian choice of charred cauliflower steak. Prices are $14 to $18.

Menus change every two weeks and are posted for the semester at leeward.hawaii.edu/thepearl.

The Pearl is open for lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays, through Dec. 6. Call 455-0475.

Over at KCC, Ka‘Ikena Laua‘e opens Sept. 11 for lunch and dinner, a week later than expected because of storm damage from Hurricane Lane.

Through Oct. 4, lunch service (seatings at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and noon) will feature continental cuisine; for dinner (seatings at 5:30, 5:45 and 6 p.m.), Asian- Pacific cuisine. In November and December, the cuisines will be reversed.

Call 734-9499.

MIX IT UP AT PEARL CITY LIBRARY

Even in the crowded field of national days celebrating all manner of food and drink — next month, for instance, say hurrah for cheeseburgers (Sept. 18) and coffee (Sept. 29) — it may still seem strange to hear that Aug. 31 is officially National Trail Mix Day.

But trail mix, said to be invented by California surfers in 1968, is both nutritious and a quick energy boost, thanks to the dried fruit, granola and nuts that also make it a convenient portable snack.

All those virtues prompted Pearl City Public Library to hold a “Snax in the Stax” class using a variety of ingredients to make the tasty mix, 2:30 to 4 p.m. Thursday.

It is the first in a series of three Snax in the Stax events; the other two will be held Oct. 23 and Jan. 15. All are free.

The library is at 1138 Waimano Home Road. Call 453-6566.