The Duke Festival is a nine day event held in Waikiki at Queens Beach, an event held in honor of a gentleman fondly remembered as one of the greatest waterman to have ever lived. Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was born August 24, 1890 and the festival in his honor features more than 20 ocean and beach competitions while Duke’s enormous Statue overlooks the whole event. It’s a community event that is designed to bring everybody together with the Aloha spirit and share the generosity that he was known and admired for.
The OceanFest took place August 20 to 28 which coincides with The Dukes birthday. The events range from surfing for amateurs, pros, tandem, the physically challenged, stand up paddling, and many more.
I got great joy from watching the families eat together, play together and surf together. But what I walked away with was the Aloha Spirit. Nobody really cared about who won the heat or who took first overall because this competition wasn’t about that. It was about being in the water with your friends with Mom and Dad watching from the beach or surfing events with you. It was about your children surfing in the shore break and even the dogs getting in a surf too. High fives by everybody in the heat all waiting to paddle in together, hugs, cheers and just a lot of love. Im pretty sure I evan saw a solo cloud that looked a lot like a shaka. The Duke must off been watching from above, throwing some Aloha Spirit down those nine days.
