It’s the season to celebrate all things mango, edible and otherwise. This weekend, the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts and the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association present Mango Jam Honolulu.
The entertainment-, food- and craft-filled event will be held Friday evening and all day Saturday on the Frank F. Fasi Civic Center Grounds surrounding Honolulu Hale, kicking off with an appearance by the Aloha Festivals Royal Court that includes “the kahilis, the pu, everything,” said Misty Kela‘i, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts. The feather standards and conch-shell trumpets will add a touch a ceremony to the event.
Following 5 p.m. remarks by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, entertainment begins, including Na Hokuhanohano Award-winning trio Na Hoa and dances by the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Poly Club, a group featuring students from nine schools.
MANGO JAM HONOLULU
Where: Frank F. Fasi Civic Center Grounds, 650 S. King St.
When: 4:30-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday
Cost: Free
Info: 808ne.ws/MangoJamHnl or 768-6622
Free parking in the city’s municipal lot; enter from the left lane of Beretania Street just past Alapai Street.
A highlight of the second annual Mango Jam will be a 45-minute stage production, “Mango Days.”
“My staff wrote the play,” Kela‘i said. The play will bring back fond memories of mango snacks from small-kid time, and popular local songs and other heartwarming Hawaii nostalgia. Performances begin at 6:30 p.m. each evening inside the air-conditioned Mission Memorial Auditorium.
Free entertainment will fill both days of the event, featuring performances by Kapala, Keilana, Darin Leong, Mana‘o Company with Bruddah Waltah and Sean Na‘auao, Jordan Segundo, Hoku Zuttermeister and more. Kapena Kids, children of the members of the band Kapena, will make their debut, Kela‘i said. Many of Hawaii’s prominent cultures will be represented, with taiko drumming by Kenny Endo’s troupe, Korean, Okinawan and Filipino performances, and hula.
The full program can be downloaded from the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts website at 808ne.ws/MangoJamHnl.
Mango is treasured for more than its sweet flavor, so members of the Honolulu Woodturners club will demonstrate various skills in creating projects using mango wood, valued for its beauty.
Naturally, the food and drinks offered for sale in the Mango Cafe will be mango-focused, for the most part.
Food vendors will include Uncle Lani’s Poi Mochi, featuring poi mochi drizzled with hot mango glaze; Island’s Finest Shave Ice, featuring mango ice cream and mango shave ice; Tea Girls Hawaii’s mango-flavored teas; Waimanalo Country Farms’ flavored lemonades, including mango; and Filipino food from Buk Buk Kitchen, to name just a few vendors.
Kettle Corn Hawaii will debut its li hing mango popcorn at the event as well, Kela‘i said.
Food items will range from “a couple bucks” to as much as $5 to $8, she said.
“We’re bringing in the civic clubs, so all the aunties will be selling their pickled mango, their mango chutneys — and that’s hard to find nowadays — and their jellies and jams,” she said.
All the goodies, including a spot offering refreshing beverages for those 21 and older, will be in designated areas, such as Mango Cafe, with the food booths; Mango Market, with fresh mangoes, produce and related food items; Mango Row, with its arts and crafts booths; and Mango Lounge, a beer garden with mango-inspired drinks such as “pickled-mango shots and special mango salsa,” Kela‘i said.
Among the vendors will be one offering fresh, deeply fragrant maile lei from Hawaii island, and Wahine Toa, which rarely visits Oahu. The Wahine Toa booth at the Merrie Monarch Festival Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair always has a long line, Kela‘i said.
“Old-school, that’s the kind of vibe we want. We have lots of beautiful, shady trees on our campus, so bring your lau hala mat, put it down and enjoy the kanikapila,” she said. “If anything, come for the music. We all work so hard. Lie under the tree and relax.”