2019 Hawai'i Island Steel Guitar Festival Canceled

March 4, 2019 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

The 2019 Hawai'i Island Steel Guitar Festival, originally scheduled for December 8-9, 2019, has been canceled.

The Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection, has been undergoing a major renovation that began in October, 2018. The hotel had originally anticipated the project's completion by early November, 2019. The 2019 festival was pushed back from its regularly-scheduled early-November date to the date in December to allow sufficient time for completion of the hotel's renovation.

Due to construction delays and other issues related to the renovation, the hotel revised the project completion date, and projects that the earliest it can reopen will be the last week in December. However, this date is not firm and is subject to change depending on the progress of the renovation project.

Festival planners considered attempting to obtain an alternate festival venue in the surrounding area. After considerable discussion, planners concluded that obtaining a satisfactory site within a timeframe that would allow sufficient time for visiting festival guests to complete travel arrangements would likely be improbable, and that canceling the 2019 festival was the best alternative at this time.

Festival planners will now concentrate on planning for a 2020 Hawai'i Island festival. Updated information will be made available on the festival's website and Facebook page when it becomes available.