Waikoloa Beach Resort tunes up for ukulele festival

Strumming and humming, hundreds of ukulele players and fans, keiki to kupuna, find their way to Waikoloa Beach Resort each year for the Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival. This year’s 15th annual event on March 7 brings legendary entertainers together with some of the hottest stars in Hawaiian music for a day full of music from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Roy Sakuma’s free ukulele workshop kicks off the day in the Monarchy Ballroom at Hilton Waikoloa Village. Self-parking is $5.

The beat goes on throughout the day with ukulele concerts on two stages at Kings’ Shops and Queens’ MarketPlace, emceed by Danny Kaileikini. The festival includes prizes and ukulele giveaways by sponsoring companies.

Highlighting this year’s festival is the soulful sound of Paula Fuga, a self-described “musician with a mission,” who will share Hawaii’s cultural voice and rhythm. Fuga secretly dreamed of becoming a superstar as a homeless 9-year-old, living on the beach with her family. Determined, she started playing flute in middle school band and took lessons from Roy Sakuma, founder of Ukulele Festival Hawaii, to help with her singing and songwriting.

In 2004, Fuga appeared at an “American Idol” audition wearing a “Big Girls Rock” T-shirt, and even though she didn’t make the cut, that experience led to her chart-topping first album, “Lilikoi” and Na Hoku Hanohano’s title of Most Promising Artist of the Year. Since then, her secret dream has propelled her into a career that circles the globe and shares the spotlight with superstars like Jack Johnson. Fuga will close out the 2015 Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival at Queens’ MarketPlace at 6 p.m.

The 15th annual Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival is a production of Waikoloa Beach Resort and Ukulele Festival Hawaii. For more information, visit waikoloabeachresort.com or call 886-8822.