Kapalua's Aloha Fridays Returns With Josh Kahula, Hula and a Dozen Local Vendors

Free hula performances, live island reggae, and more than a dozen local vendors are set to take over The Barn in Kapalua next Friday evening as Aloha Fridays at Kapalua returns for its second installment of the year. The family-friendly gathering runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at 1000 Kapalua Drive in Lahaina, with public parking available directly across the street. Admission is free.

The event is hosted by Maui Land & Pineapple Company, which launched the quarterly series on May 8, according to Maui Now. Oralani Koa, the company's director of cultural and community engagement, said Aloha Fridays celebrates local businesses and musicians, welcomes families and visitors, and showcases West Maui's community offerings. The next installment after this one is already scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23, back at the same Barn venue.

Hula and Live Music Lead the Lineup

The evening's performers include kumu hula Kathy Hoʻokaumoku Balar, Nā Pua o Kapiʻolani Hula Studio, kumu Eva Palakiko, and Ka Papa Hula o Lahainaluna, bringing hula to the stage alongside live music. Musical acts include Josh Kahula, Dani Girl, and Mele Pono featuring ʻOhana Akima. Kahula, a Lahaina native and lead singer of the island reggae band Nuff Sedd, has been a fixture of Maui's music scene for over two decades and has collaborated with Hawaiian music icons Henry Kapono and Jerry Santos.

More than a dozen local makers and vendors are expected to set up shop at the gathering, including Hi Darling Shop, Dirty Dragon Soda, ʻAwa Delites, Honi Designs Hawaii, and Fiyah Foods. The mix of food, drink, and craft vendors is meant to give small West Maui businesses direct access to the crowds the quarterly series draws to Kapalua.

A Landowner Rebuilding Its Community Footprint

Maui Land & Pineapple Company, founded in 1909, now manages more than 22,000 acres of land and 247,000 square feet of commercial real estate across West Maui. The company shut down active pineapple farming in 2009 to focus on real estate, leasing, and land management, and it posted $5.8 million in first-quarter 2025 operating revenue, a 134 percent jump over the same period the year before, according to Global AgInvesting. That same year, the company announced plans to cultivate drought-tolerant agave on marginal Maui croplands for on-island distillation and regenerative agri-tourism, part of a broader push to repurpose former pineapple acreage.

The company also oversees the 8,304-acre Puʻu Kukui Watershed Preserve, established in 1988 as one of the largest private nature preserves in Hawaii, protecting native rainforests and primary water capture zones for West Maui, as Hoodline has previously reported. In December, the company leased seven acres of West Maui land for 10 years to community group Kaibigan ng Lahaina, which is building an agricultural, educational, and healing center following the August 2023 Lahaina wildfires with the help of a $1.6 million grant from the Maui Strong Fund.

Water Infrastructure Talks Continue in the Background

The quarterly gatherings arrive as Maui County officials advance a memorandum of understanding with the company to acquire West Maui water infrastructure, including the Honokōhau Ditch System, along with long-term ground lease terms for the Puʻu Kukui Watershed. County officials announced the agreement earlier this month, aiming to transfer the private agricultural water systems into county hands. Hoodline has covered the county's broader push in a piece on county water board actions.

Aloha Fridays takes its name from a decades-old Hawaii tradition. The custom of Aloha Friday officially began in 1966 after the Hawaiian Fashion Guild's 1962 campaign encouraging legislators to wear aloha shirts, a push that eventually helped seed the idea of Casual Friday worldwide, a history Hoodline detailed in its report on a Maui aloha shirt exhibit.

Part of a Busy Late-Summer Calendar in Kapalua

Next Friday's gathering also lands in the middle of a packed stretch of cultural programming in Kapalua. The Maui Jazz & Blues Festival runs Aug. 31 through Sept. 6, and the Celebration of the Arts follows Sept. 18-19, giving West Maui visitors and residents several back-to-back reasons to head toward the resort area's venues this season.