"Waimea . . . Small Town . . . Big Legacy." That is the theme the Waimea Community Association picked for the 66th Annual Waimea Twilight Christmas Parade. The parade steps off promptly at 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, 2026.
The theme came from a storefront. As the association planned this year's parade, it found that Kamuela Liquor Store turns 80 in 2026. Tetsuro and Yukie Wakayama started the business in 1946, and their son Alvin Wakayama runs it now. He is this year's grand marshal.
Long runs like that are what this season in Waimea is made of. Look at the numbers on the calendar from now through Christmas. The parade is in its 66th year, Kahilu Theatre's ʻukulele and slack key festival is in its 24th, and the community chorus is putting on another Christmas program. The one thing in town that's being retired this season is a bridge built in 1932.
A Grand Marshal From Behind the Counter
The association's write-up describes a family operation more than a single store. The Wakayamas ran a liquor store, a service station and a small general store side by side, serving what the association calls "a very small community."
"Alvin who is this year's parade Grand Marshall continues to serve customers with a smile and a grateful heart."
That line is from the association's parade page, which also mentions that he hosts a wine tasting every Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. and that "all are invited." So the grand marshal can be found most Fridays, behind his own counter, for weeks before the parade.
The association is asking parade entries to "share their Legacy" with a creative entry. The 2026 parade will support the Community Meal at St. James. The application and rules are linked from the same page for groups that still plan to enter.
Waimea already held one big parade this fall. The 74th annual Waimea Paniolo Parade closed out Paniolo Festival week on September 19, under the theme "Aloha i ka Hawaiian Cowboy!" That makes December's procession the second parade of the fall, and the younger of the two.
Kahilu's Run to December
Between now and the parade, most of Waimea's evening calendar runs through Kahilu Theatre. Its fall lineup leans the same way the parade theme does. Much of it is local, recurring and rooted in Hawaiʻi.
| Date | At Kahilu |
|---|---|
| Oct. 17 | Tomáš Kubínek |
| Oct. 18 | Makana |
| Oct. 24 | Dark Side of the Beach |
| Oct. 30 | The Land Has Spoken |
| Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. | The Navigator, world-premiere screening |
| Nov. 12–14 | 24th Annual ʻUkulele & Slack Key Guitar Festival |
| Nov. 20 | Celebration of Laughs Tour |
| Nov. 29 | Waimea Community Chorus Christmas program |
| Dec. 4 | Blind Boys of Alabama |
| Dec. 10 | Whose Live Anyway? |
| Dec. 13 | Kalani Peʻa, Hawaiian Christmas Show |
| Dec. 23 | The Nutcracker Ballet |
These dates come from Kahilu's current show listings. Seat availability changes quickly in the weeks before a holiday, so the box office is the place to confirm.
A Voyage Premieres Upcountry
The screening with the most weight behind it is The Navigator on November 7. Kahilu and the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival list it as a world premiere. HIFF is presenting it as its Opening Night film. Nearly 50 years after Nainoa Thompson became the first Native Hawaiian in six centuries to navigate from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti without modern instruments, the film follows him back onto the open ocean for one final voyage. He sails 2,400 miles with a crew of student navigators, guided by the stars, nature and the teachings of master navigator Mau Piailug. Holding a film festival's world premiere in a theater at 2,600 feet, far from any coastline, says something about how Waimea fits into island culture.
Three Days of Strings
The 24th ʻUkulele & Slack Key Guitar Festival runs November 12 through 14. Kahilu sells a two-day pass, and the program is split into named sessions. There's a Hoʻolauleʻa on November 13, then a Hana Hou session and a Kanikapila on November 14. Twenty-four years makes it one of the longest-running series on the theater's calendar.
The Island's Own Voices, Then the Holidays
A week later, the Celebration of Laughs Tour on November 20 puts Augie T, Andy Bumatai and Frank Delima on one stage. The Waimea Community Chorus follows on November 29 with a Christmas program built around music from the movies. That makes the chorus concert the first holiday show of the season, and the performers are local.
December gets busy quickly. Blind Boys of Alabama play on December 4, the night before the parade. Whose Live Anyway? comes on December 10, Kalani Peʻa brings his Hawaiian Christmas Show on December 13, and The Nutcracker Ballet closes the year on December 23. Parade weekend has a concert on Friday night and the procession on Saturday at twilight.
The 1932 Bridge on Kawaihae Road
The other long-running piece of Waimea this season is a bridge, and its story is about replacement. The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is preparing to replace Waiaka Bridge, which carries Kawaihae Road over the stream at mile post 58.88, near the Kohala Mountain Road intersection. The bridge was built in 1932.
HDOT says its inspections every two years show the bridge is structurally sound. It's eligible for replacement because it falls short of current standards for roadway width, load capacity, railings, and bicycle and pedestrian access. The project will also replace today's T-intersection with a roundabout. HDOT says the current layout "can be confusing to motorists" and that the roundabout should keep traffic moving instead of stopping and starting.
Here is where the project stands as of mid-October 2026:
- Contract awarded. The state procurement system lists the job as awarded to Alpha Inc. on April 13, 2026, for $21,744,705.50. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald described Alpha as a Maui contractor.
- Start date still an estimate. HDOT's project page estimates construction will start in November 2026 and finish in November 2028. The same Tribune-Herald report said in April that no start date had been set.
- No closures posted yet. HDOT's current Hawaiʻi Island lane closure list, headed "the week of Oct. 10 – Oct. 16," has no Waiaka entry.
The project has moved slowly before. The Tribune-Herald reported that the need to acquire parts of neighboring properties held it up in earlier years.
HDOT has said construction will bring lane closures, more noise and some dust. It has committed to keeping temporary access open for people traveling through. If the November estimate holds, the work could start in the same weeks as the ʻukulele festival and the parade, on the road that links Waimea to Kawaihae Harbor and the coast. HDOT calls the bridge "a main linkage between a major shipping port on the western side of the Island of Hawaii and the rest of the island." The weekly closure list is the place to watch once crews mobilize.
The Weekly Fixtures Underneath It
The weeks between shows have their own regular dates. The Friday wine tasting at Kamuela Liquor Store is one. Another is the Pukalani Midweek Market, which the Paniolo Preservation Society lists every Wednesday at the historic Pukalani Stables. The market's address is 67-139 Pukalani Road, according to Big Island Now. Its listing on the Big Island Bulletin gives hours of 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Other guides list a later closing time, so the market's own site is the best place to check before going.
For parade night itself, the association has a short list of requests:
- Stay on the sidewalk or grass and off the roadway.
- No open fires, barbecues or hibachis, to prevent wildfire.
- No throwing candy from parade units.
- Keep a close watch on keiki and take trash home. Every narrator station will have trash bags.
The rules haven't changed much over the years, and a parade in its 66th year doesn't need many new ones. The 2026 theme points to a business that has been open since before the parade began.
At Frank Schenk, we follow upcountry projects like the Waiaka Bridge closely because they shape everyday life between Waimea and the Kohala Coast. If you'd like to talk about what the new roundabout could mean for your daily drive, or anything else about life in Waimea, please contact us.
