2023 Festival Planned for September, 2023

January 20, 2023 • Roberto Alaniz • Festivals and Conventions

The Festival Planning Committee is moving forward with plans for a second HSGA California Festival in September of 2023. Our first decision was to keep the Festival in the San Francisco/Bay Area, as several members who help to organize the event and manage the logistics live in the Bay Area and Northern California region. The Bay Area has the advantage of having three major international airports (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose). In addition, public transportation throughout the region is ample and accessible.

Mālie Lyman, an 18 year old up and coming Hawaiian steel guitarist and vocalist from O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, has accepted our invitation to be our Special Guest Performer for the 2023 Festival. Mālie is the granddaughter [sic] of the legendary Auntie Genoa Keawe and a student of Alan Akaka's Ke Kula Mele.

Mālie graduated from high school last year and is now a college student. HSGA has sponsored part of her lessons with Alan, and we have had the pleasure of watching this young lady grow and progress as a musician for the past eight years, so we are very excited to have her join us this year.

Here are YouTube links from 2018, 2020, and 2022 that will give you a preview of Malie's talent.

While the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City was very accommodating and a good central location, we have decided to use a different venue in 2023: The Odd Fellows Hall in Cupertino, California. Cupertino is a city just northwest of San Jose and around thirteen (13) miles from the Mineta/San Jose International Airport.

Several of our newer members live in the San Jose area (South Bay) and regularly use the Odd Fellows Hall in Cupertino for Hawaiian music events. In addition, the San Jose area has a substantial Hawaiian/Pacific Islander population, and one of our goals is to attract a greater number of local residents to attend our Festival. The Odd Fellows Hall is within walking distance of the Cupertino Inn Hotel. In addition, the area around the hall and hotel has many restaurants and businesses that will provide attendees with dining and shopping options.

You can get a better idea of the hall and hotel accommodations by visiting the following websites:

https://www.cupertinooddfellows.org/hall-rental-photos/

http://cupertino-hotel.cupertino.thecaliforniahotels.com/en/

More specific information will be presented in the Spring 2023 Quarterly Newsletter. In the meantime, please reserve September 21 - 23, 2023 in your calendars for our gathering.

Mahalo.