Dancing on an ocean front lawn in Kona to a full day of amazing live music? Yes, please!
The Best of Kona Festival will be held on Saturday April 16th from 11 am – 6 pm at the Kona Inn Shopping Village lawn featuring a full day of live entertainment in an oceanfront setting to bring fun and community back to Kailua Kona.
What is Happening?
In keeping with its name, the festival, which was first held in February 2020, will feature the best of Kona with well-regarded local musical entertainers, a fashion show featuring local designers, cirque performers, slack line demonstrations and curated vendors to include professional services, food, art, clothing, pet care services, health/skin care services and more.
Ticket Information
The event is ticketed at $50 general admission and $60 at the door with a cap of 400 attendees. All attendees must be over 21. The Kona Inn restaurant will be featuring a “beer garden” on its lanai. Musical entertainment includes headliner, Leche De Tigre, Ms. Demeanor and the Felons, and more who will be playing on their own and also co-mingling onstage to create an original musical jam session.
Add to the fun, a fire show at sunset and slack lines between the palm trees to try your balance!
There will also be an after party at Gertrude’s from 7-10 with a fun musical line up, dinner and a signature cocktail included for $45. Tickets are also on the Eventbrite page.
About the Festival
The Best of Kona Festival was the largest free public event in Kona when it was held in February 2020 in Keauhou. Although the 2022 event will be ticketed with limited attendees due to COVID, it is poised to grow each year as more people experience the fun, education, outreach and business opportunities it provides.
The Best of Kona Festival organizers are Julie Ziemelis, creator of 365Hawaii, 365Kona/ 365 Things to Do in Kona, the Kona Newbies and Kohala Newbies groups and Aesha Shapiro, owner of Aesha Rose Event and Design and founder of Ladies Artisan Market and the Whole Business Woman Academy.
Best of Kona Festival Sponsors
Presenting sponsors are Gertrudes, Wynn and Eagan Team/Citiwide Home Loans, Knutson and Associates, Belinda Pate/Medical Aesthetics and Slack HI/Kona Circus Center
Other sponsors include: 365Hawaii Real Estate, Mokulele Airlines, Tastes of Aloha, The Pet Gal, Guardwell Farms, Liberty Mutual, Aesha Rose Event Design
Side Story: The first time we held this festival in February 2020, we had almost 4000 people attend. After the pandemic hit, we kept trying to put it on again every six months during COVID hoping that we could bring people together again. We took the leap of faith that COVID restrictions would ease by April 2022 and they have and so we are so happy that we can put on this event for 400 people this year. We are looking to expand and grow the “Best of Kona” concept to make it a full week of fun with local restaurants getting involved and a doing a 5k/10k race for charity and more. It’s definitely going to be a highly anticipated event for Kona.
This will be an amazing event and I hope to see many of the fans of this page and our work on 365Hawaii YouTube channel!
