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You can’t have a festival without ice cream, and on Maui it’s Roselani, Maui’s very own producer.

For two weeks every May, master canoe builders from Polynesia and Hawai’i gather in Lahaina to celebrate their craft and the art of traditional Polynesian voyaging. There are cultural events, including a parade, throughout the period, which culminates with the launch of a canoe, built during the festival.

“May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i” say the lyrics of a popular Hawaiian song. Not that anyone in the islands needs an excuse to make, wear, or give a lei , but May 1st is the day Hawai’i’s master lei makers demonstrate their amazing skills to the public.

Surprisingly, rodeo is a popular sport in Hawai’i and nowhere more so than in the little “paniolo” town of Makawao. Held every July 4th weekend, the festivities begin with a parade through town, and two days of rodeo events are held at an arena just up the road.

Delicious Portuguese fried donuts – without the hole – are coated with sugar and served hot.

Carnival rides, livestock, flowers, produce, extraordinary orchid displays, and, of course, lots and lots of food – all of that and some of Hawai’i’s best entertainers can be found at this fair, held in central Maui every October. The fair draws almost 100,000 folks over four days.

Bright red in color – don’t ask what’s in them – these are beloved on the island.

You should try to get to at least one of these glorious celebrations, held between late June and early September. An Asian tradition honoring deceased ancestors, O-Bon festivals are no longer strictly religious in nature, and all are welcome at the nighttime dances, which are held at Hongwanji , or Buddhist missions, such as Jodo (see Jodo Mission).

Blocks of ice ground up to the consistency of “snow” are doused with sticky syrup in any imaginable flavor and served in paper cones.

A big rectangle of sushi rice, a slice of grilled – or fried – Spam, all wrapped up in a piece of nori (dried seaweed). Surprisingly tasty.