Event Spotlight · Fall 2026
Kona Coffee Cultural Festival 2026: Farm Tours, Lanterns and Ten Days of Kona Coffee
Every November, Kona’s coffee harvest becomes a ten-day festival spread across Kailua-Kona and the upcountry towns of Hōlualoa, Kealakekua and Captain Cook. The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival runs November 6 - 15, 2026, its 55th edition, with farm tours, tastings, a lantern parade, competitions and a big closing-weekend Hoʻolauleʻa. Here’s how to plan it.
Since 1970: a harvest festival for a 200-year-old crop
The festival was first held in 1970, and its organizers bill it as Hawaiʻi’s oldest food festival. Its stated goal is to preserve and promote Kona’s coffee heritage, which is nearly 200 years old, and to honor the pioneers, farmers and artisans behind it. The 2026 festival is the 55th, and the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce’s July announcement counts about 40 events over the ten days.
According to the festival’s history pages, missionary Samuel Ruggles planted Kona’s first coffee in the late 1820s, using cuttings from Oʻahu. After the world coffee market crashed in 1899, the big plantations broke up into 3- to 5-acre parcels leased to workers, many of them Japanese immigrants, and Kona coffee became a crop of small family farms. In 1892 Herman Widemann introduced a Guatemalan bean that became known as Kona typica.
The harvest shaped daily life. The festival’s timeline notes that in 1932 Kona’s public schools moved summer vacation to August through November to line up with coffee production, and kept that schedule until 1969. Beans were traditionally dried on a hoshidana, a deck with a roof that rolls back. Donkeys, nicknamed "Kona nightingales," hauled coffee until jeeps took over in the 1940s. The festival lands in the middle of harvest season, which runs from early fall through late winter.
What’s on: the festival week by week
Opening night (Fri., Nov. 6). The Made in Hawaiʻi Artisan Market runs 2 to 9 PM at Hale Halawai County Pavilion on Aliʻi Drive, with food trucks and pop-up vendors. At 6 PM the Lantern Parade walks from Kailua Pier to Hale Halawai with colorful lanterns and cultural costumes, and the Multicultural Showcase follows there from 7 to 9 PM.
Hōlualoa Coffee & Art Stroll (Sat., Nov. 7). The village at the start of the Kona Coffee Belt fills with farmers pouring samples and explaining how they get their flavors. Visitors vote for a favorite, and there is food around the village. The schedule lists it until 2 PM. Parking is limited, so the festival recommends carpooling; shuttles run from the Hōlualoa Elementary parking lot and the Imin Center.
Farm tours (most run Nov. 9–13). Most tours are free with the button. Greenwell Farms in Kealakekua runs seed-to-cup tours (9 AM and 1 PM) through its nursery, mills and roastery. At UCC Hawaii’s estate in Hōlualoa you can try picking ripe coffee cherry (tours at 9:30 and 11 AM). Buddha’s Cup pours guided coffee flights, which it compares to a wine tasting. Hala Tree Coffee in Captain Cook runs hourly walking tours on weekdays from Nov. 6 to 13, capped at 12 guests per tour.
Living history. The Kona Historical Society’s Kona Coffee Living History Farm in Captain Cook is on the festival schedule for Nov. 6, 10 and 13, from 10 AM to 2 PM (last entry 1:15 PM). Costumed interpreters show how farmers used the kuriba (mill) and hoshidana, and the original 1920s farmhouse is open. The society calls it the only living history coffee farm in the nation.
Competitions and closing weekend. Local baristas face off at the Latte Art Throw Down on Thursday, Nov. 12, at Kona Coffee & Tea. On Saturday, Nov. 14, the 100% Pure Kona Coffee Half Marathon and 5K start at 6 AM on Aliʻi Drive. The same day, the Hoʻolauleʻa runs 9 AM to 3 PM at Makaeʻo County Pavilion on Kuakini Highway, with multicultural entertainment, a lei contest, exhibits, the festival’s largest Made in Hawaiʻi marketplace, and farmers pouring samples. The festival closes Sunday, Nov. 15, with the cupping competition awards from 1 to 3 PM at Buddha’s Cup in Hōlualoa, where you can taste the winning coffees. Entries are scored double-blind on the Specialty Coffee Association’s 100-point scale.
The food: coffee in everything
- KTA Super Stores Kona Coffee Recipe Contest (Sun., Nov. 8). At the Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa in Keauhou, every sweet and savory entry must use 100% Kona coffee. Doors open at 11 AM, and the public gets a tasting after the awards. Parking is validated.
- Hoʻolauleʻa food court (Sat., Nov. 14). The festival’s main day out includes an ethnic food court alongside the coffee samples.
- Okonomiyaki and koto (Wed., Nov. 11). At the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple social hall in Kealakekua, a traditional Japanese koto concert comes with Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for sale, made with Otafuku Sauce Company.
- Ticketed dinners. The Theatery in Kealakekua hosts a 5 Course Coffee-Flavored Supper Club on Monday, Nov. 9 ($95 plus a button, limited to 36 guests). The adults-only Grand Finale on Saturday, Nov. 14, serves a chef-curated "Taste of Kona" menu ($150 plus a button, two drink tickets included). Both are on the ticket page.
Getting there, getting around and what to bring
- Flying in: Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (KOA) is the island’s primary airport and serves transpacific and interisland flights.
- Driving between stops: Most farm stops listed on the schedule sit along Māmalahoa Highway (Hawaiʻi Belt Road) in Hōlualoa, Kealakekua and Captain Cook, upslope from Kailua-Kona, so plan for drive time between them.
- Bus: The county’s Hele-On bus serves KOA directly on several routes, including Route 202 (Central and North Kailua-Kona). Route 201 circulates along Aliʻi Drive, and Route 204 serves South Kona and Captain Cook.
- Parade night: For the 2025 Lantern Parade, Aliʻi Drive in Kailua Village closed from Kaʻahumanu Place to Hualālai Road from 5:30 to 7 PM, with traffic detoured to Kuakini Highway.
- What to bring: Your festival button, which each event asks for. Farm tours run at set times, and Hala Tree caps each tour at 12 guests.
- Accessibility: Hala Tree’s walking tour has an adjusted route for guests with limited mobility if you contact the farm in advance. The Quilt & Fiber Arts Show (Nov. 9–15, Quilt Passions, Kailua-Kona) offers free validated parking.
- Deals: Most farm tours are free with the $10 button. Hala Tree gives button holders $5 off in its farm store. At the Living History Farm, festival admission is $15 with a button ($10 for Hawaiʻi residents), compared with the society’s regular $20 adult price.
Make a trip of it: around Kona
- Historic Kailua Village. For a walking tour of Kona history, Hawaiʻi’s tourism board points to Huliheʻe Palace, Mokuʻaikaua Church and Ahuʻena Heiau. The palace was built in 1838 by High Chief John Adams Kuakini and is now a museum run by the Daughters of Hawaiʻi, open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 3 PM (reservations encouraged).
- Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park. South of Kailua-Kona, the state park marks the first extensive contact between Hawaiians and Westerners and has Hikiau Heiau, a sacred site you’re asked not to walk on. It’s open daily 7 AM to 8 PM with no entrance fee. The Captain Cook Monument across the bay is reached by the Kaʻawaloa Trail or a permitted guided kayak tour.
- Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. South of the bay, the national park preserves a place of refuge where kapu breakers and defeated warriors could be safe from harm. Its gates close 15 minutes after sunset.
- Local food beyond the festival. Start with the coffee itself, poured at the farms on the tour list. For island-grown food, the two farmers markets below fit around festival days.
Also on the calendar nearby
On our calendar the same week:
Keauhou Farmers Market
Everything is Big Island grown: produce, honey, flowers, Kona coffee, macadamia nuts, meat, eggs and breads, with live music at the Keauhou Shopping Center. Festival Saturdays are Nov. 7 and 14.
Pure Kona Green Market
Local farmers and crafters at the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, close to the South Kona farm tours. The festival’s Sundays are Nov. 8 and 15.
Hawaiian Airlines Made in Maui County Festival
If you’re island-hopping, Maui County makers fill the Maui Arts & Cultural Center the same opening weekend. Saturday brings food trucks, live music and free shuttles from offsite lots.
Before you go
Dates, the venue list and an add-to-calendar link: Kona Coffee Cultural Festival on USA Fest Bot
More on the calendar: Hawaii events, or browse fall festivals 2026.
Dates can change, so check the event’s website before you go.
Quick answers
When is the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival in 2026?
November 6 - 15, 2026, at venues around Kailua-Kona, Hōlualoa, Kealakekua and Captain Cook, per our listing.
Do I need a ticket?
You need the $10 festival button, which gets you into the festival’s events and makes most farm tours free. A few events, including the Supper Club, the Grand Finale and the Old Time Kona Stories show, are ticketed separately.
Where do I buy the festival button?
At any festival event, or at retail and farm locations around Kona.
Is it free for kids?
The festival’s own pages give different age cutoffs for free entry for children (the schedule page says 5 and under; the July announcement says 12 and under), so ask when you buy a button.
Which day should I go?
If you can only do one day, go Saturday, Nov. 14, for the Hoʻolauleʻa. With more time, add a weekday farm tour (Nov. 9–13) and the Hōlualoa stroll on Nov. 7.
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