Kāhuli Festival 2024

Saturday, November 9, 2024
3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Reduced Admission $5.00 for Kama‘aina and Military
Free for Museum Members

The 3rd Annual Kāhuli Festival’s theme is Partnerships for Preserving Biodiversity. Hosted by the Bishop Museum, the festival offers an opportunity for the many partners in research, conservation, education, and natural resource management to showcase how we mālama pū i ka ʻāina, especially through the lens of our endangered Hawaiian land snails. The festival brings together the community of research and conservation partners, along with artists and community members to showcase the collective efforts necessary to save these jewels of the forest and the ecosystems on which we all rely.

This is an opportunity to learn about and celebrate the rich biocultural diversity that makes Hawaiʻi unique. Programs will include hands-on workshops and talks by conservationists, authors, researchers, and cultural practitioners; family-friendly activity booths hosted by community partners; snail captive rearing exhibits featuring live endangered and rare snails from Bishop Museum’s Hawaiian Land Snail Conservation Program and the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Snail Extinction Prevention Program; art exhibits featuring local artists, cultural workshops, and more.

Although kāhuli is often mistakenly thought to refer primarily to the famous O‘ahu Tree Snails, it refers to land snails, broadly. At least 759 species of land snails are native to Hawaiʻi, and 99% of them are found nowhere else in the world. Unfortunately, many of them are critically endangered, with nearly 100 more expected to go extinct in the next decade without effective partnerships and actions.

Program line-up to be announced.

Photo Credit: Brendon Wang

If you are part of an organization or group that protects our local biodiversity and would like to join us for the festival as a booth or vendor, please fill out this form by Friday, October 11, 2024.