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King Kamehameha Day 2026: "Stand Upright and Change Unpleasant Conditions"
Young people place yellow flowers on a statue of King Kamehameha.

Youth from the Papākolea Community Association conducting the King Kamehameha Lei Draping at the 2024 celebration (Honolulu). Image courtesy of the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Happy King Kamehameha Day! Each year on June 11, this day celebrates the legacy and accomplishments of “King Kamehameha the Great.”

A revered and leading figure in Hawai’ian history, King Kamehameha united the Hawaiian Islands in 1810. Sixty years later, on December 22, 1871, his descendant King Kamehameha V (Lot Kapūaiwa) proclaimed a national holiday to honor and celebrate his grandfather and the father of the Hawaiian Kingdom. 

Originally, the people of Hawai‘i wanted to mark the legacy of Kamehameha on his birthday, December 11, but out of humility the chief pushed the holiday as far away from his own birthday as possible, to June 11, making 1872 the first Kamehameha Day holiday ever celebrated. A statue of the celebrated ruler was raised in Honolulu, alongside four other statues in Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Washington, D.C., and all five statues still stand today.

Each year, events celebrating the King's accomplishments are held throughout the day—not just in Honolulu, but across all of the Hawai’ian islands. During these celebrations, all of the statues of the king are decorated with flower leis, while vibrant and visually stunning events are held that include traditional ceremonies, luau feasts, and parades, led by the Annual King Kamehameha Celebration Floral Parade in Waikiki.

This year's 2026 theme for the day is "E kū, e hoʻololi," which means "Stand upright and change unpleasant conditions." The theme is both a call to stay strong in adversity as well as a tribute to the enduring values of "leadership, resilience, and service" that are so integral to communities across Hawaiʻi.

Learn more about King Kamehameha Day, its history, and 2026 celebration activities at https://sfca.hawaii.gov/resources/king-kamehameha-celebration-commission/.
 

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