Kulāia Festival Kicks Off Canoe Races

Photo by Marissa Motas

Photo by Marissa Motas

By Léo Azambuja
A large street celebration rocked Kaunakakai last Friday, welcoming the most important Hawaiian outrigger canoe races in Hawaii and honoring one of Molokai’s most beloved watermen.
“Aloha mai kākou. Welcome to Kulāia, our 8th Annual Molokai Canoe Festivals Hoʻolauleʻa,” event organizer Lori-Lei Rawlins-Crivello said at the beginning of the festival. “Although we had missed a few years due to COVID, last year we came back very excited.”
Hundreds of people attended the event taking the entire block of Ala Malama Avenue in front of the Molokai Public Library from 5 to 10 p.m.
The event, she said, was all about perpetuating the culture and legacy of Molokai. As the Na Wahine O Ke Kai — the women’s canoe race across the Kaiwi Channel to Oahu — was scheduled to Sunday, Rawlins-Crivello said everyone was happy that there were two women crews representing Molokai.
Live music and hula performances kept the large crowd entertained. The entire block was closed to traffic to accommodate nearly 40 vendors, including food stands, cultural booths and merchandise sellers.
Rawlins-Crivello presented Mervin Dudoit Sr., “lovingly known as Uncle Merv,” with the 2025 Hoʻoilina Award, an honor that had been given in past years to Melvin Paoa Jr., Mac Poepoe, Dr. Noa Aluli, Eliza Kauila Poʻaha Reyes, Shirley Rawlins, Raquel Moana Dudoit and the island of Molokai itself.
“Born and raised here, he has long embodied the spirit of a waterman. Whether paddling, fishing or caring for our ocean, Uncle Merv has lived in rhythm with the sea, and most importantly, he share that ‘ike with generations to come. His wisdom has touched not only his own ‘ohana but thousands of keiki across Molokai, Hawaii and beyond,” Rawlins-Crivello said.
Uncle Merv was also a paddler, a coach and founder of the Mana‘e Canoe Club. He was a crewmember in the Molokai Canoe Club team that took second place overall in the Molokai Hoe race in 1967.
State Sen. Lynn DeCoite presented a certificate from the Senate to Uncle Merv.
“On behalf of the senate and the state Legislature, we honor Uncle Merv,” DeCoite said. “We love you, uncle, we recognize all your hard work.”
She added that as the chair of the Senate’s Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Technology, it is her honor to continue sponsoring the event, “so we never forget who we are and where we came from.”
Kulāia was inspired by the annual lā kulāia, dating back to the 1860s. Those were festivities honoring the Hawaiian Kingdom and king. Outrigger canoe races were part of those festivities. After the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893, the kulāia festivities shifted focus to just the outrigger canoe races.
In an effort to revive the spirit of the festivals, a group of residents formed the Molokai Canoe Festivals committee a few years ago, and has since organized the event aimed at embracing this tradition and passing it on to future generations.