Haleiwa Jodo Mission

I have a mixed review for this bon dance. The food is ok, same for the parking and the music is quite weak.
As far as the food goes there is one home directly across the street from the main entrance that had bentos, patele, good fish sandwiches and other items that is better than inside.
Regarding the event it is much nicer but quite crowded on Saturday when they have the floating lanterns and that is the primary reason for my 4 stars. When the dancing ends around 9:00pm the priest will ring a bell and the procession starts with someone bring a large lantern followed by the rest of the procession.
This is the original floating lanterns and is much prettier than the commercial Ala Moana one. They use lanterns made of paper so they don’t have to recovered and watching them float out to sea and disappear is lovely.

There are many many o-​bon events and bon dances throughout the island of Oahu. My last count was 34, yes, 34 of them! O-​bon events and bon dances are usually from late June until early September. To my knowledge, there are only two sites that host the lantern floating festival. Magic Island and Haliewa Jodo Mission.
The lantern floating event at Haliewa Jodo Mission is usually the last Saturday of July and usually after the last bon dance around 9 PM. Check local listing for annual changes in date and time.
The music stops and you’ll hear the priest chiming their bells and walking toward the shorelines. A larger red lantern starts the event and eventually everyone slowly place their lanterns in the water with their loved ones names written on the lantern. Year after year there has been a nice cool breeze that helps push the lanterns out to sea. You’ll notice the current will take the lanterns to the left and then slowly disappears.
It’s a beautiful event, the food is alright with not many choices and shaved ice is usually only one flavor, straweberry. A large amount of politicians comes out to wins some votes. Abercrombie was out and about this year. The energy of the bon dancers are incredible, even when they have the non-​traditional electric slide dance.
Parking is tough, get there early or park near the harbor