Each year, on all the islands, we celebrate pretty much as you do at home.  We cook out, we throw horseshoes, we play softball and volleyball, we splash in the water, we hold parades and we watch fireworks.  

At the edge of the Downtown Honolulu Harbor, The Aloha Tower Marketplace will celebrate a day early – on Thursday the 3rd — with live entertainment on several stages, street entertainers, restaurant specials and a fireworks display.
 
The definitive fireworks display Friday on Oahu will erupt on Magic Island and feature a music simulcast on two Hawaii radio stations.  Anyone can pick up a free pair of 3-D fireworks viewing glasses with any purchase at Ala Moana Center starting Tuesday.  
 
On Maui, the fireworks will shoot from a barge moored off of Lahaina, preceded by a concert on the lawn of the Lahaina Public Library.
 
The Makawao Rodeo and Independence Day celebration has taken place in upcountry Maui for 50 years over the 4th of July weekend.  It includes bareback bronco riding, barrel racing, calf roping, live music and country-western dancing.  
 
The Kauai 4th of July festival is held at the Vidinha Stadium in Lihue with live entertainment, food and game booths, and a fireworks display. 
 
On the Big Island, The Parker Ranch 4th of July Rodeo is an award-winning event that includes horse races, team sorting, double mugging, dally team roping and other rodeo events.

 
Visitors enjoy Turtle Independence Day at Mauna Lani Bay.  People gather to celebrate young Hawaiian green sea turtles gaining their freedom.   The little amphibians from Sea Life Park on Oahu have been nurtured in the ponds at Mauna Lani Resort and are released into the ocean on July 4. 

If you’re on Oahu, you can satisfy that urge.  You head east from Waikiki to Antonio’s New York Pizzeria, which you’ll find across Waialae Avenue from Kahala Mall.

Antonio’s is run by two "New York" Italian guys from Connecticut, cousins Anthony Romano and Joe Tramontano, who moved to Hawaii a few years ago, opened their modest place in upscale Waialae-Kahala and started making and selling "authentic" East-coast pizzas, sandwiches, pasta and desserts such as New York cheesecake and imported (from Ferrara’s in New York) cannoli.

According to the cousins, real New York Pizza is made from a secret, handed-down-recipe dough (flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, and who-knows what else, to make a  thin-crusted, lightly sauced crust that’s crisp on the bottom with just a bit of flexibility, topped with a selection from pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, meatballs, spinach, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, jalapeno, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies, ricotta, Genoa salami, grilled chicken breast, and pineapple.

Visitors from Philadelphia attest to the authenticity of the cheesesteaks (which the cousins also make with chicken) and hoagies.  There’s a large and growing local clientele, so you East-coasters must be onto something pretty good.  Antonio’s – a slice of home in Paradise.

SUPER SAVER RATES include:

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FREE NIGHT & $75 FOOD CREDIT Package includes:

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FAMILY 2 ROOM SPECIAL plus FREE NIGHT & $75 FOOD CREDIT Package includes:

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Made famous in the 1960’s by Hawaii 5-O, the Ilikai Hotel has long been a presence in Waikiki. However the property has been getting a lot of

unwanted attention with labor issues as low occupancy spurs housekeeping cutbacks. Starting April 1^st, the hotel is drastically reducing its

housekeeping forces. Occupancy at the Waikiki property is expected to fall between 30% and 40% in April and May, according to general manager

Teri Orton. Orton said that the cuts are temporary. The hotel workers’ union fears the cuts are essentially layoffs to almost two-thirds of the

unionized housekeeping staff.

The property was purchased in July 206 for $218 million by a local company named Anekona with ambitious plans to reposition the Ilikai into an

upscale condominium hotel. The changes have been met with resistance by the condo owners as they fear many of his proposed changes will harm

the old-Hawaii-character of the hotel. After at least six months of delays, the estimated cost has been $5 million. The developers expect major

renovations to begin this fall, with the Ilikai’s grand reopening scheduled for late 2009.

If you are renting a car One of the gateways to Waikiki, Ala Moana Boulevard is getting a major facelift. The Hilton Hawaiian Village said the improvements will eventually improve traffic on a crowded stretch of roadway. The bad news is that the construction work there will slowdown traffic over the next eight months. The road improvements will extend from the Hawaii Prince Hotel, passing the Ilikai Hotel and the Hilton down Ala Moana Boulevard past Fort DeRussy to Kalakaua Avenue. The area routinely sees traffic bottlenecked, as tourists and people who live and work in the area travel in and out of Waikiki.

Waikiki Beach Walk, the new emerging hub of Hawaiian entertainment, dining and shopping along the Lewers Street corridor, is kicking off a new free

"Sunday Showcase" entertainment series starting April 6^th. This will complement a couple of ongoing activities already in place, meaning locals and

visitors alike have yet another destination to explore Waikiki. The new weekly program, part of Outrigger’s Nâ Mele No Na Pua-Music for the Generations

Hawaiian music heritage program, will assemble popular hula and music performers in an early evening program, from 5-6 p.m. on Sundays, at the

Plaza Stage. So far the schedule for April includes:

April 6 — Pali

April 13 — Imua, Da Band

April 20 — Ala and Na Hui Lokahi with Hula Halau O Pua Loke

April 27 — A Touch of Gold & local funny man Frank DeLima

Dec. 21 — looking ahead a Christmas concert, roster to be announced

Waikiki Beach Walk also presents a free weekly show, Ku Ha’aheo (To Cherish With Pride), from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays at the Plaza Stage, and
a Na Mele No Na Pua Kama’aina concert from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sundays at the Grand Lanai of the Embassy Suites. Valet parking ($6) for four hours
is available at the Embassy Suites and the Wyndham with any same-day purchase from a Waikiki Beach Walk merchant.

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