20th Anniversary Honolulu Festival 03/08 - 03/09/2014

I'm more than two weeks late on my Honolulu Festival Post since I took so many shots over the two days of this annual event. This year is the 20th anniversary and also the last year they will be having the finale fireworks so I was hoping for good weather. Luckily the weather did hold out and it turned out to be a good day.

This year the stage was equipped with a large screen projector so it is much easier to see the performers.

There was a performance from Korea.  They acted out a farmer and his ox.

There was also calligraphy demo from Japan.

There were lots of taiko performances. This was the Nagato Fudo Daiko.

I've seen this group Taikokozo for years and I never get tired of it.

 The Eisa-Crew CROWN from Okinawa.

They even had a small Bon Dance during the festival inside the convention center.

On Day 2, I caught more Taiko performances, this one by the Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii.

The Alaska National Heritage Center Dancers.

Wang Hong from China balanced umbrellas on her foot.  Some lady sat in front of me videotaping the performance w/ her ipad nearly blocking my entire view! The slight vignetting is a result of shooting from the tight gap from which I saw the entire performance.

After the performance, so many rushed to the front when it was time for the official photo.

The last performance of Day two were this lively hip hop group Pop Lock Box.

The parade reached our spot a little after 5pm.  We found a shady spot, but the setting sun was horrible for my shots.  

I've seen this scary character from Taiwan in the previous years, but first time he came to our side of the sidewalk.

There must've been a couple of hundred girls from this school who danced their way in front of us.

The sun glare was so bad, this is the best I could do to rescue my favorite shot of a member of TaikoKozo who posed for me.

My flash battery died after just a few use so I decided to wait to shoot the illuminated floats.  I was happy people around me didn't rush out to take photos giving me a great vantage point of this glowing dragon.  I think this is the best shot of all the years I've watched the parade.

More lighted floats..

Finally having waited til almost 8pm, the final float.  I think people must've left to dinner giving me clear shot of the fireworks...it was awesome and made the 3 hour wait worthwhile.

They were right next to me that I could feel the heat from the firework..sooo awesome!

At 8:30pm we were out at the crowded beach for the finale Nagaoka Fireworks Show. They set off so many bursts at once, it was hard to get them all in without blowing out the shot..  This was a real hit and miss.

 Luckily, it wasn't too windy so most of the bursts kept their shape.

I think this is their signature design, the massive weeping willows. I have to admit that even with the long exposure shot, there was a head in my shot from someone sitting in front of me, but luckily for photoshop, I managed to clone it out.

They had set off fireworks from multiple barges... it finished near 9pm...a long but fun day..