The Kona Steel Guitar Festival is presented by the Hawaii Institute for Music Enrichment and Learning Experiences (HIMELE) and the Ke Kula Mele Hawai‘i School of Hawaiian Music. The festival brings together legendary steel guitarists for a celebration of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar and provides opportunites for Kona area steel guitarists to join steel guitarists from other parts of Hawai‘i and the US to share their talents. Some festivals have been scheduled to precede the Aloha Music Camp to offer camp attendees an extra opportunity to rediscover the Hawaiian steel guitar and enjoy the nahenahe sounds of master steel guitarists from Hawai‘i.
The Kona Steel Guitar Festival is one of a series of Hawaiian Steel Guitar festivals produced and presented by the Hawaii Institute for Music Enrichment and Learning Experiences, Inc. (HIMELE) and its partners.
All festivals are presented to increase awareness and foster interest in the Hawaiian Steel Guitar, an instrument important to Hawaiian music and culture. All these festivals are free and open to the public and made possible through grant awards and donations from Hawai‘i State agencies, corporate sponsors and private individuals, supplemented by in-kind contributions and volunteer resources. Please visit HIMELE's website to see how you can help support our festivals.
The 2025 Festival will be held at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa immediately preceding the 2025 Aloha Music Camp. The event will follow the same format as the 2024 festival and include concerts, kanikapila sessions, Open Stage performances, a steel guitar exhibit, a workshop, and school visitations to local area schools.
The 2025 festival is in the planning stages. Please check back for updated information.
The date of the Kona Steel Guitar Festival, the second steel guitar offered on Hawai‘i Island by HIMELE, is coordinated with the annual Aloha Music Camp, originating back to 2016 when the Camp was located on Kaua‘i. Due to the announcement by the Aloha Music Camp that the 2025 Camp will be their last, the Kona Steel Guitar Festival will subsequently go on hiatus after the 2025 festival.
The first Hawaiian steel guitar festival to be offered on Hawai‘i Island, the Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Experience at Mauna Lani, will continue to be presented by HIMELE.
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Statewide Festivals
Kaua‘i Steel Guitar Festival
Maui Steel Guitar Festival
Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week
Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Festival
Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival
Kona Steel Guitar Festival
Community Festivals
Ka Makana Ali‘i - Kapolei
Windward Mall - Kāne‘ohe
Kahala Mall - Wai‘alae-Kāhala
Livestream
Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase