Here’s how to watch the Merrie Monarch Festival on air and online

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - It’s the biggest hula competition on Earth!

The 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival officially kicked off Wednesday at Hilo’s Edith Kanakaole Stadium and continues through Saturday when the overall winners will be announced.

Piʻikea Lopes named 2022 Miss Aloha Hula in this year’s Merrie Monarch Festival

Here’s what is coming up:

FRIDAY: Hula Kahiko

• Coverage of the Merrie Monarch begins at 6 p.m., when the Royal Court enters the stadium.
• Friday night marks the start of the group competitions, with 24 halau taking the stage.
• Kane and wahine will begin Friday with kahiko, or the ancient style of hula.
• Kahiko requires strength and dancers’ bodies are often pushed to the limit.

SATURDAY: Hula ‘Auana

• Tune in at 6 p.m. to watch the final night of competition, hula ‘auana.
• The groups return with their best modern hula performances.
• After all 24 halau perform, the winners will be announced late Saturday.

Ready to watch? Here’s how:

On Cable Television:

All three nights of the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival will be televised on K5, the broadcast home of the festival. You can find K5 on channel 6 if you are a Spectrum, Hawaiian Tel or DirecTV customer.

Watch on channel 8 if you are a Dish Network subscriber.

Coverage of the Merrie Monarch Festival starts at 6 p.m. every night.

On the Hawaii News Now Website:

Every minute of the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival will stream free of charge on the Hawaii News Now website at HawaiiNewsnNow.com/MerrieMonarch.

On all three nights of competition, you’ll be able to find a livestream video player at the top of the Merrie Monarch Festival section of our website that will carry our coverage.

The festival will not be available to watch on-demand after it has aired.

On the Hawaii News Now Mobile App:

You can also stream the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival directly to your cell phone, no matter where you are, by using the HNN mobile app.

You can find more information on how to download the Hawaii News Now mobile app by clicking here. Once you’ve downloaded the app, click on the icon that says Merrie Monarch Festival and you’ll be taken directly to the page where you can watch the festival livestream nightly.

On Our Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV App:

If you don’t subscribe to cable but still want to watch the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival on your television, download the Hawaii News Now app for Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV devices.

With our streaming app, you can watch free coverage of the 2021 Merrie Monarch Festival every night of the competition, starting with the Miss Aloha Hula competition on Thursday.

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