If you have lived here more than a few years, you already know the corner. Keawe Street between Kalākaua and Waianuenue used to run on the rhythm of one bar. When Hilo Town Tavern closed, the block went quiet in a way that was hard to miss on a Friday night. That quiet is over.
Three separate things are happening within a five-minute walk of that corner this August, and taken together they say something about downtown that a single opening would not: after a long lull, operators are betting on nightlife here again. Not on the highway, not in Waiākea, not out toward the airport. Right on the historic bayfront blocks where people already live and walk.
The old Tavern space is a music room again
The building that housed Hilo Town Tavern reopened in April as Hale Kanikapila, owned by Thom and Jayne Kerns, Jen Grieco, and Fal Allen. If you drove past over the winter and wondered what the yellow-and-burgundy paint job was about, that is the answer. The hui began renovations in December, repainted the walls from black to yellow and burgundy, extended the bar, and updated the restrooms, with the most significant change being removing a wall to extend the bar.
The weekly cadence is worth memorizing if you are looking for a Tuesday plan:
- Mondays — DJ night
- Tuesdays — Open mic
- Wednesdays — Karaoke
- Thursdays through Saturdays — Live music, with the Pink Drag Show back on its old Saturday footing
The popular Pink Drag Show returned to its usual venue after a hiatus triggered by the Hilo Town Tavern's closure. That detail matters more than it looks. It means the room is not being reinvented as something new. It is being restored as something familiar, with a food program bolted on.
That food program is the part that surprises people. This is not the reheated pupu menu you would expect from a bar taking over a bar. The menu draws from many Hawaiian traditions with a twist, including Crispy Yuzu-Kosho Karaage Sando influenced by Japanese dishes, Vinha D'Alhos Loaded Fries inspired by Portuguese dishes, Hilo Pastele Saimin influenced by Puerto Rican dishes, and Huli-Huli Chicken and Papaya Salad. Pastele saimin is the kind of dish only somebody who grew up eating both would think to combine. It reads as a menu written for residents, not for a cruise-ship lunch crowd.
Co-owner Thom Kerns framed the intent plainly in an interview with Big Island Now, saying the plan is to develop the culture one day at a time and honor local food culture through elevated bar food.
Saturday, August 8: Waianuenue closes
The most visible thing happening downtown this month is not inside a building. It is on the street.
808 Day is coming back to Hilo for a block party, shutting down Waianuenue Ave and the Hilo Town Market for a day full of music, art, food, drink and vibes. The date lands on the number itself. Saturday August 8th 2026.
If you have gone in past years, this one is different. In 2024 and 2025 the event was held out at Nani Mau Gardens on Makalika Street, which is a beautiful venue but requires driving out to it. This year the organizers moved it back downtown and closed the street. The location is Hilo Town Market and Waianuenue Ave, 69 Waianuenue Ave.
The lineup, briefly:
- Hirie
- Likkle Jordee
- Wavvy
- These Guys, with Small Axe, Mr. 83, Wehilei, and Koa of Innavision
- Osnizzle between sets
Beyond the stage, there will be a beer garden hosted by Kona Brewing Hawai'i, a kava lounge hosted by Kanaka Kava, a creative workshop with Moon Kine Tingz, live art curated by The Hawai'i Island Art Alliance, and flash tattoos hosted by Oblivion Tattoo Shop.
For anyone who lives within walking distance of downtown, this is the rare day where the parking math actually favors you. Anyone driving in from Puna or Hāmākua will want to arrive well before doors, because Waianuenue itself is the venue.
The Bull Shed lands at the Hilo Hawaiian
The third thing is not on Keawe or Waianuenue. It is a five-minute drive around the bay to Banyan Drive, and it is a bigger deal than it sounds like on paper.
After more than five decades serving generations on Kaua'i, the Bull Shed Restaurant has opened its first location outside the Garden Isle at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, bringing its signature steaks, seafood and hospitality to Hawai'i Island for the first time. The opening marks the first expansion in Bull Shed's history.
Read that second sentence again. Fifty-plus years, one location, and the second one they ever opened is here. Not Waikīkī. Not Wailea. Hilo.
The kitchen is being run by Executive Chef Ryan Brannigan, who brings more than two decades of culinary leadership at premier Hawai'i resorts including Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, and The Royal Hawaiian. The room itself has been redone to face the water. The newly renovated dining room features expansive windows framing views of Hilo Bay and Mauna Kea.
The menu keeps the Kaua'i signatures with a small nod to where it now sits. Guests can enjoy longtime favorites including prime rib, premium steaks and fresh seafood, alongside a limited selection of Hawai'i Island-inspired specialties unique to the Hilo location.
One of Hawai'i's most beloved steakhouses picked Hilo for its first-ever second location. That is a real vote, and it sits at the same table as Hale Kanikapila and 808 Day.
Late-month footnote: Kaleo Pilanca on August 23
If you cannot make the block party, the calendar keeps going. Kaleo Pilanca is back on August 23 at the Hilo Town Market, doors at 6:30pm, show at 7:30pm, BYOB and BYOP.
Good Times Comedy has been quietly turning the market into a stand-up room a few times a year, and Kaleo is one of the locals who reliably fills it. Bring your own pupus is a good clue about the room. It is not a comedy club. It is a warehouse that people who live here treat like one for a night.
What all of this actually says about downtown
Any single one of these could be filed away as a nice thing happening in town. Together they signal something worth naming.
For most of the last decade, the working assumption was that Hilo's evening economy was thinning out. Restaurants that had run for years wound down. The Tavern closed. Some rooms went dark. The narrative from mainland relocators, and even from some folks who grew up here, was that if you wanted a night out you drove to Kona or you stayed home.
August 2026 is the first month in a while where that narrative does not describe the block. A new music venue is running seven nights a week in a building that had gone silent. A block party is closing the main downtown street because there are enough people to fill it. A restaurant group that has never expanded in fifty years opened in a Hilo Bay hotel. Comedy is on a Saturday-night calendar at a warehouse that used to just be a farmers market.
For homeowners in Kaūmana, Waiākea Uka, Puueo, or Kaiwiki, the practical read is short. The five-minute drive to town is worth more than it was a year ago. For anyone thinking about listing near downtown, the walk score just quietly improved in a way that will not show up in a spreadsheet for another six months.
That is the kind of shift that only residents notice first, because the marketing catches up later.
Let's talk story
If you own in or around downtown Hilo and you are curious what these changes might mean for your property, or you are thinking about the neighborhood for a first home or a second one, Tessie Fontes grew up here and watches these blocks the same way you do. Let's connect — get local guidance or a home valuation whenever the timing feels right.
