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The Maui News
The Emma Farden Sharpe Hula Festival will return in person under the Lahaina banyan tree this weekend, with free keiki activities, food, workshops, art, music and hula planned from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Opening the festival at 9 a.m. will be Sharpe's halau -- Na Pua O Kapi'olani Hula Studio, now under the direction of her grandniece, Holoaumoku Ralar.
Other performing halau include:
• Halau Hula Kauluokala with Kumu Hula Uluwehi Guerrero.
• Halau Kekuaokala'au-'ala'iliahi with Na Kumu Hula 'Iliahi and Haunani Paredes.
• Halau Kamaluokaleihulu with Kumu Hula Kahulu Maluo-Pearson.
• Halau O Ka Hanu Lehua with Kumu Hula Kamaka Kukona.
A renowned kumu hula, Sharpe dominated Hawaiian-style entertainment from the 1920s through the late 1980s, according to a news release from festival organizers.
She made it her mission to perpetuate hula and the Hawaiian culture and created the Emma Farden Sharpe Hula Festival, which started in conjunction with Na Mele O Maui, a choir contest among Maui County schools. She was one of the founders of Na Mele and added on a hula festival in her name, though it phased out in the early 1990s.
The Emma Farden Sharpe Hula Festival now honors her legacy through a celebration of ancient and modern hula, as well as activities, workshops, artisans and a lifetime achievement award dedicated to a pillar in the hula community.
This year's Emma Farden Sharpe Legacy Award honorees are "The Fabulous Emma Sharpe Entertainers," featuring Phyllis Ross, Alice Shimomura, Mokihana Shipe, Kalei Jaramillo, Makanani Catugal, Malihini Heath, Stephany Sepulveda, Penny Schneider, Leimomi Santana, Pualei Estrella, Ku'uipo Haupu, Panui Shepard, No'eau Ralar, Kalani Naeole, Steven Lono, Sean Grady, Patrick Grady, Wayne Hirata, Manuel Criste, Randy Casco, June Kalepa and Pualalea Cabacungan.
The festival will also feature an ukulele workshop at 10 a.m. and a hula workshop at 2 p.m., though times may change. To reserve a workshop space, visit forms.gle/8UgR6GqUE23cmDCVA.
For more information on the festival, visit facebook.com/efshf.