Annual Ukulele Festival
annual ukulele festival held july hawaii founded roy sakuma support waikiki department park event drew large crowd listen free concert amateur top ukulele musician roy sakuma working groundskeeper waikiki department park lunch one day sakuma colleague envisioned ukulele concert support supervisor sakuma worked department hawaii international ukulele club put together first festival kapiolani park bandstand waikiki ukulele festival hawaii nonprofit charitable organization established roy kathy sakuma organization’s mission bring laughter love hope child adult throughout hawaii world music ukulele ukulele festival hawaii produce promotes arranges ukulele festival free public encourages interest hawaii’s art culture education scholarship promotes local international interest ukulele instrument virtuoso quality ukulele festival first original ‘ukulele festival begun held every july kapiolani park o‘ahu sakuma went looking man created two ukulele jazz record year earlier become classic hawaiian ukulele player uke th state jazz sakuma located lyle ritz california convinced pick ukulele come play festival year ritz moved hawaii performed many following festival well james ingram grammy awardwinning pop artist met sakuma exercising track university hawaii ten year later two composed “come join us” become theme song ukulele festival hawaii organization hawaii music award awarded “single year composition danny kaleikini served festival’s official emcee year first appearing kaleikini often serf emcee ukulele festival well