Your Guide to the Perfect Weekend: Sept. 8–10, 2017

A lineup of the weekend’s best events.

By Marisa Heung

Is your Wednesday feeling more like a Tuesday? We know it’s tough, but trek through the next two days and you’ll be rewarded with a weekend of food, shopping and lots more. On Saturday, head to a food festival, taking place in Ward Village, and celebrate Hawai‘i’s favorite carb. For the ladies, one of the biggest local for-women expos gives you and your besties the perfect excuse to exclude the boys. Plus, watch one of the world’s greatest figure skaters tear up the ice, and shop unique, handmade mugs that are worthy of your freshly ground, French-pressed cup o’ joe.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF Rice Fest

Eighth Annual Rice Fest

Saturday, Sept. 9, 3 to 9 p.m.

Got rice? Of course you do. Made sweet or savory, and enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Hawai‘i’s favorite grain is as popular and versatile as a Reyn Spooner button-up. Rice Fest teams up with Eat The Street for Hawai‘i’s largest rice festival, this weekend on Auahi Street fronting Ward Centre, Nordstrom Rack and T.J. Maxx. In addition to live entertainment, cooking demos and eating contests (how many poke bowls/Spam musubi/loco mocos can you eat?), more than 20 vendors will be there with dishes and drinks featuring rice, such as mochi, soup, horchata, ricewater lemonade and arroz con gandules. While you’re there, take a moment to stop by the Lanakila Pacific’s Meals on Wheels tent. A nonprofit that cooks, packs and delivers meals to hungry seniors in Hawai‘i, Lanakila will be accepting monetary or brown rice donations during the event. Plus, knowing you’ve helped someone else enjoy rice will make yours taste even better.

Free, Ward Village Shops, along Auahi Street fronting Ward Centre, Nordstrom Rack and T.J. Maxx. For more information on this event, go here.

15th Annual Hawai‘i Woman Expo

Friday, Sept. 8 through Sunday, Sept. 10

Fashion, food, spas and fitness: These are just a few of a girl’s favorite things, but there are lots, lots more. This Friday through Sunday, more than 200 vendors will showcase all of the best things in spirit, wellness and style at the 15th annual Hawai‘i Woman Expo. Make it a girls’ day out—grabs some friends and shop over live music, attend fashion shows and enter to win prizes given away each day of the event. Pet lovers, don’t miss the Celebrities and Their Pets fashion show, taking place Saturday and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. More than 35 local celebrities will hit the runway with fashionably dressed dogs. The event’s mission is to bring awareness to pet adoption, and many of those dogs will be up for adoption from Paws of Hawai‘i. We hate to admit it, but this expo knows us.

$4, free for military families, seniors 65 and older, and children younger than 7. Neal S. Blaisdell Exhibition Hall, 777 Ward Ave. For more information on this event, go here.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Always Dream Foundation

Kristi Yamaguchi’s Golden Moment

Saturday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.

You’d think Kristi Yamaguchi would have been content with multiple gold medals. But nope—in addition to figure skating, Yamaguchi has published an award-winning children’s book, won the sixth season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, created her own brand of women’s activewear and established the Always Dream Foundation, a nonprofit that provides funding for schools and supports early childhood literacy programs. This year, Yamaguchi returns to Hawai‘i in Golden Moment, a concert-on-ice benefit for Always Dream Foundation that combines the live vocal performances of Broadway phenom Lea Salonga with choreographed skating by Yamaguchi and her cast of internationally renowned skating champs. With one performance each on Saturday and Sunday, this is your chance to see your childhood Olympic hero in person.

$40–$150, Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, 777 Ward Ave. For more information and to purchase tickets, go here.

Coffee and Cups with Hawai‘i Potters’ Guild

Friday, Sept. 8, 5 to 9 p.m.

As coffee lovers, we say you can never have too many cups of coffee, or coffee cups, for that matter. As part of this month’s New Wave Friday, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in South Shore Market will host a Hawai‘i Potters’ Guild pop-up featuring a spread of gorgeous coffee mugs and cups for sale. Trust us when we say these are nothing like the clunky clay mugs your 5-year-old made in art class (which you cherish, so much so that they never leave the cupboard). Crafted by the guild’s talented members, many of which are locally known clay artists, each piece is thrown and painted by hand and completely unique. Stay awhile and enjoy all the deals New Wave Friday has to offer, including a MORI by Art + Flea pop-up market, a keiki ice cream-making class and a special vintage pop-up at Fishcake.

Free, South Shore Market at Ward Village, 1170 Auahi St. For more information on this and other Ward Village events, go here.

World Wide InstaMeet #MeetMeInHONOLULU

Saturday, Sept. 9, 4 to 7 p.m.

If you RSVP’d to our first-ever InstaMeet, this Saturday at The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club, we look forward to seeing you there! New to InstaMeet? Check out these five tips on making the most of it.

Free, RSVP only. The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club, 412 Lewers St.

Looking for more things to do? Check out our events calendar.