"WAIMEA . . . SMALL TOWN . . . BIG LEGACY." That's the theme of this year's parade on the Waimea Community Association's parade page. The association's calendar has the 66th Waimea Twilight Christmas Parade set for Saturday, December 5, from 6 to 7:15 p.m. The route runs from Waimea Park to Kalani Schutte District Park.
The parade comes near the end of the season, though. The run of evenings leading up to it starts a month earlier at 67-1186 Lindsey Road, where Kahilu Theatre premieres a film about itself on Sunday, November 1. Kahilu's calendar places nearly every big night out between Halloween weekend and mid-December on the same Mainstage. The parade theme's "big legacy" fits a building on Lindsey Road as well as it fits the town.
A documentary about the stage, shown on that stage
The film is called Kahilu – The Gift of Place. It's a Kahilu.TV original documentary, and it screens at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 1. Admission is pay what you wish. According to Kahilu's event page, it uses personal interviews, old photos and videos to tell the story of the theatre, Richard Smart's love of theatre, and what the venue has meant to Waimea and beyond. A grant from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation's Richard Smart Fund paid for it.
So a fund named for the theatre's founder paid for a film about the theatre, which premieres in the theatre. The founder's story explains why that loop makes sense. Kahilu's own history describes Smart as the owner and sole heir of Parker Ranch. He spent 30 years performing on Broadway before he came back to Waimea and decided to build a theatre in his hometown. He named it for his mother, Thelma Kahiluonapuaʻapiʻilani Parker.
Kahilu says construction began in 1979 and finished in 1980. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the first performance was February 6, 1981. The same article covers the stretch many longtime residents will remember. The theatre's board called an intermission in 2012. A $1.5 million state grant then paid for a new roof and carpeting, energy-efficient lighting, a reception area and a classroom and performance space, and Kahilu reopened in August 2013.
The documentary is also the clearest way to read the rest of the fall schedule. The 2026/27 season opened with a launch and open house on August 23, which Big Island Now listed in its weekly events roundup. The weeks after November 1 show the "impact on Waimea" the film describes.
Halloween weekend starts on a lawn and ends in a screening room
The weekend begins Friday, October 30, and gives you three ways in:
- Friday, 4 to 8 p.m.: October Food Truck Friday on the Keck Observatory front lawn, hosted by the Waimea Community Association.
- Friday, 7 p.m.: The Land Has Spoken: Tales of Indigenous Horrors on Kahilu's Mainstage.
- Sunday, 2 p.m.: the Gift of Place premiere, pay what you wish.
The Friday show suits Halloween night well. Kahilu calls it a radio-style theatrical production by Indigenous Performance Productions. It features original works by Indigenous authors Shane Hawk and Andrea L. Rogers, performed by an all-Indigenous cast with live Foley effects and an original atmospheric score. The stories retell Indigenous traditions through horror, with curses, tricksters, monsters and supernatural forces. Kahilu recommends it for ages 12 and up and gives it a PG-13 content advisory, so check that before you bring younger trick-or-treaters.
The food truck window closes at 8 p.m., an hour after the curtain goes up, so dinner on the Keck lawn works best early in the evening.
November gives the stage to island stories
The two weeks after the premiere bring Pacific film and Hawaiian music, and the programming leans hard toward local material.
The Hawaiʻi International Film Festival lists Kahilu as its Waimea stop on November 7 and 8. Kahilu's listing shows two evenings of screenings:
- Saturday, November 7: Guided by Horses at 3:30 p.m., Ea (Sovereign) at 5:30 p.m., and The Navigator at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, November 8: Protecting Kahoʻolawe: 50 Years of Aloha ʻĀina + Documentary Activism at 3 p.m., Pacific Showcase Shorts: Tracing Home at 5:30 p.m., and Making the Line at 7:30 p.m.
Kahilu also sells a HIFF All Access Pass, listed under November 6. The screenings themselves are on the 7th and 8th.
The following weekend, the 24th Annual ʻUkulele & Slack Key Guitar Festival does what Smart's theatre seems built for and puts the audience on the stage. Here's the festival page schedule:
- Friday, November 13, at 10 a.m.: a school performance.
- Friday at 7 p.m.: the Hoʻolauleʻa concert with Ledward Kaapana, Jeff Peterson, Sonny Lim and Brittni Paiva, featuring Jerry Santos and Kamuela Kimokeo. Tickets are $30, $50 or $75.
- Saturday, November 14, in the morning: workshops with Peterson, Lim and Paiva.
- Saturday at 2 p.m.: a kanikapila where audience members can join Peterson, Lim, Paiva, Sean Parks and Kaapana on stage.
- Saturday at 7 p.m.: the Hana Hou concert with Peterson, Lim, Paiva and special guest Taimane.
An on-site food truck serves both days, and a 2-day pass covers all three concerts. Saturday's 2 p.m. kanikapila is the slot to watch. Few weekends of the year let you sit in with Ledward Kaapana.
The next week turns civic. The Waimea Community Association lists its 10th Annual Mahalo First Responders Celebration for Wednesday, November 18, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at MCO Kahilu Town Hall. On Friday, November 20, the Celebration of Laughs Tour plays the Mainstage at 7 p.m.
The holidays begin with a local chorus
Kahilu's holiday programming starts with Waimea Community Chorus: Christmas Music in the Movies, a 2 p.m. show on Sunday, November 29, the weekend after Thanksgiving. In a building that came out of one man's hometown pride, a community chorus is a fitting way to open the season.
From there, December builds around the parade:
| Date | Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 4 | 7 p.m. | Blind Boys of Alabama | Kahilu Mainstage |
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | 6 to 7:15 p.m. | 66th Waimea Twilight Christmas Parade | Waimea Park to Kalani Schutte District Park |
| Thursday, Dec. 10 | 7 p.m. | Whose Live Anyway? | Kahilu Mainstage |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | 2 p.m. | Kalani Peʻa – Hawaiian Christmas Show | Kahilu Mainstage |
That gives you a gospel concert on Friday and the parade on Saturday, so Waimea's first full December weekend has two separate evenings out. Kalani Peʻa's Sunday matinee on the 13th closes the run in the afternoon, matching the 2 p.m. slot that opens it on November 1.
The full stretch, start to finish
From October 30 to December 13, the season runs six weeks and two days. It begins with a Halloween horror show by an all-Indigenous cast and a food truck evening on the Keck lawn. It ends with a Hawaiian Christmas matinee two Sundays into December. In between are three shows built on Hawaiʻi material, two evenings of Pacific film and a festival weekend in its 24th year, and nearly all of it sits on one stage that a Parker Ranch heir with 30 years on Broadway built for his hometown. The documentary that tells the story of that stage screens on November 1 at 2 p.m.
Before you head out, check times and ticket details with Kahilu Theatre or the Waimea Community Association, because event schedules can shift. Kahilu asks that tickets be bought only from the theatre or a partner it has authorized.
At Wai Pacific, we think evenings like these on Lindsey Road are a big part of what makes Waimea feel like home, and we enjoy talking about the town as much as its properties. If the Gift of Place premiere has you thinking about your own next chapter upcountry, we'd love to hear from you. Start Your Island Real Estate Experience.
