Aloha Festival celebrates 3 decades of bringing island food, music and culture to Bay Area

By John Ramos

While Outside Lands in San Francisco was expected to attract a quarter million people to San Francisco, another event in the Bay Area also offered music, food and dancing, but with an island flair that made everyone feel like ohana.

The Aloha Festival, held at the San Mateo Event Center, celebrated its 31st anniversary over the weekend.

Manley Bush was one of the original founders back in 1994.

They wanted to create an annual Hawaiian-style party for the area and, back then, they kicked it off with a visit from a traditional seafaring ship called the Hokule’a that attracted more than 70,000 people to see it arrive.

“And that started a media blitz,” said Bush, “because the people in San Francisco had never seen a double-hulled canoe that could traverse 3,000 miles with no electronic techniques except the ocean and the clouds and the sun and the stars in the evening. So, they wanted to see this canoe, and it actually drew the crowd.”

The festival is smaller these days, drawing about 17,000 visitors.

Those who come get to enjoy music and dancing ranging from the traditional Hawaiian hula…to the drum-pounding beats of the Tahitian style. 

Ryan Gadduang is Filipino, but he said the festival brings all the island nations together for what he calls a cultural “salad bowl.”

“From Filipinos, Hawaiians, Samoans, Tahitians, Tongans, you got all the different cultures out there,” Gadduang told CBS News Bay Area. “When we celebrate out here in the Bay Area, the Aloha Festival is about a lot of the different cultures together, especially the ones out from the islands of Hawaii.”

Of course, much of that culture is captured in the food, from favorites like barbecued pork skewers and Hawaiian shave ice, to unusual fusions like sushi nachos.

One of the more interesting offerings is Spam musubi.  It’s made with a meat that most American’s discount, but which Alan Ngo said was an absolute staple when he was growing up.

“When I was little, I was eating Spam, eggs and rice,” he said.  “And so, to have that type of protein…it’s like, I’ve got to have it.  If I don’t have it, it’s not really…I don’t know what to say about that.”

“It’s just rice, Spam and seaweed put together,” said Girlie Masauan, who operates the musubi pop-up.  “But here at Delsubi, we’ve kind of elevated that snack into something more gourmet.”

They create a succulent version they call “burned cream” musubi with a spicy cream sauce scorched with a torch.  And over at the Island Noodles booth, owner Parker Lake, who is Hawaiian by birth, stirred up huge vats of teriyaki chicken noodles in a flaming wok.

“And the big thing with the Hawaiian culture is family,” said Lake.  “Big families.  So here, my wife, I’ve got cousins, my cousin’s kid, couple friends… We’re all ohana.”

He called that “aloha,” but it seems to be a word that has a lot of different meanings to different people.

“The word ‘aloha’ means respect for one another,” said Manley Bush.  “Respect for the elders that have laid the foundation for which we follow.”

“There’s a feeling to it.  It’s inviting, but it’s also warming and embracement,” said Girlie.  “So, when I think of ‘aloha’ I’m thinking of all of that.”

It may be defined in different ways, but islanders say it all means the same thing, we’re glad to see you, come join us.

“And once you find out what it really means,” said Bush, “you’ll enjoy yourself, because now you feel like you’re home.”