Kulaia Lights Up Kaunakakai
Last Friday, the typically quiet streets of Kaunakakai transformed into a bustling festival. Celebrating Na Wahine O Ke Kai and Molokai Hoe canoe races, the Kulaia festival likewise returned to Molokai for the first time since 2019.
Lori-Lei Rawlins-Crivello, event organizer for the festival, explained that originally the plan for this year was just to focus on getting the channel races started again, and not have the festival. However, after interest from the Molokai community and race organizers, the decision was made to put on Kulaia with only three months lead in time.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” said Rawlins-Crivello.
Shutting down the street from Rawlins Service Station to Fish and Dive, the festival brought in 30 Molokai vendors and an estimated more than 3,000 attendees over five hours.…