The story
Aloha Festivals in Honolulu
Aloha Festivals began in 1946 as Aloha Week, created by former Junior Chamber of Commerce members to preserve Native Hawaiian culture and identity after World War II. Now the only statewide cultural festival in the United States, it centers on Oahu with the Royal Court investiture, the Floral Parade through Waikiki, and the Hoolaulea street party.
Aloha Festivals began in 1946 under the name Aloha Week, founded by former members of the local Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Jaycees, with a purpose more serious than typical civic boosterism: to help preserve and restore pride in Native Hawaiian culture and identity in the years immediately following World War II, a period when that identity faced real pressure from rapid Americanization and wartime disruption.