What’s Going On?

The 15th Annual San Francisco Aloha Festival is a free two day celebration of food, culture, and dance of native Pacific Islanders. The event was hosted by the Pacific Islanders’ Cultural Association. All ethnic groups from the Pacific came to show their support for their family and friends. The festival was held in the Presidio at the Main Post/Parade Grounds.

This year the festival had beautiful weather. It was slightly warm with partly cloudy skies. However, Saturday towards the end of the festival the fog started to roll in and it got a little chilly.

The Aloha Festival highlighted food from the Pacific, clothing, arts & crafts, collectibles, informational booths, and two stages for entertainment.

At the festival most people ventured to the food area first to get a little taste of Hawaii. After a long wait in line to get a plate of goodness, attendees head over to get a seat on the grass in front of the two stages to watch hula/dance and musicians play while passing by the vendor tents.

Popular to this year’s festival were the booths that sold Poke (a Hawaiian dish of raw tuna cubes mixed with Asian flavor (usually with green onions, soy sauce, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and sometimes shredded seaweed) and flavored shaved ice.

Most of my time at the festival was spent watching different hula/dance groups and musicians perform. The majority of the dances that I witnessed were hula, a Hawaiian dance performed to song, from local groups around the Bay Area.

My advice for the future is that you get there early with blanket or tarp and camp out a good spot to watch the show. Bring lots of friends to hold the spot and take turns getting food in the food area. It is an all day event so make sure you reserve enough time to find parking and enjoy the program.

Pictures of the SF Aloha Festival can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Please feel free to leave me a comment/donations below for the pictures and/or the posting. Mahalo.