Kailua's Holiday Sundays Swap Markets. Here's Where the Holiday Season Lands.

Most Sundays, the covered parking lot at the makai end of Uluniu Street belongs to Lōkahi Kailua Market. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., food vendors, artisans, farmers, live music and free keiki activities fill 340 Uluniu Street. The market says it hosts more than 110 vendors a year, with over 60 on site each week. On four Sundays this season, Lōkahi will be somewhere else, and a different market will set up under that roof.

That handoff explains how Kailua celebrates the holidays. The season moves between a covered lot on Uluniu, a shopping-center lobby, a parking garage behind Longs/CVS, Lanikai Park and an elementary school in Maunawili. If you know who has which space on which day, you'll know where to go.

Four Sundays, one covered lot

Lōkahi Kailua Market's location page lists 340 Uluniu Street as its usual home and two relocation venues for special dates: 419 Uluniu Street and 25 Maluniu Avenue. The relocation dates it lists are November 29 and December 6, 13 and 20, 2026.

Those are the same four Sundays the Aloha Home Market lists for its Kailua market at 340 Uluniu Street, open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Kailua is the original Aloha Home Market, running since 2018 in the covered lot at the makai end of Uluniu.

Lōkahi's page doesn't say which relocation address goes with which Sunday. It notes that relocation dates can change and asks shoppers to follow @lokahi_kailua_market and its newsletter for updates. If you're heading out on any of those four Sundays, check that feed before you leave the house.

Parking is less of a worry. Lōkahi points out that street parking is free on Sundays and that several public lots surround the market.

The Thursday that opens the season

Before the Sunday swap, the season opens at the Lau Hala Shops lobby. Kailua Town's Holiday Sip + Shop, presented by Alexander & Baldwin, runs Thursday, November 12, from 4 to 7 p.m. More than 30 Kailua Town businesses take part. Check in at the Welcome Table outside the Lau Hala Shops lobby near UFC Gym to pick up a map, then walk the route.

These participating businesses are handing out free bites and drinks while supplies last:

• Fresh empanadas from 10 Empanadas
• Mini charcuterie boats from Aloha Graze Co.
• Festive mocktails from Bar Coco
• Gourmet popcorn cups from Island Popper Popcorn
• Tiramisu cups from Kalele Eats
• Specialty mochi from Mochi Momma

Make-A-Wish Hawaii will wrap gifts for free with any purchase from a participating merchant during the event. Early Bird tickets are $10 online until noon on November 12, or $13.07 with fees. After that they're $15, or $18.65 with fees. Sales are card only and all sales are final. Ticket donations go to Shop Small Hawaii, a program of the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership at YWCA Oʻahu.

Kailua Town is giving out a limited-edition tote bag and a 2027 Good Vibes Calendar from Lauren Roth Art. To get one, be among the first 100 people to spend $100 or more before tax and gratuity at participating merchants during event hours. Bring your same-day receipts to the Welcome Table by 7 p.m. You'll need to be 18 or older with a photo ID, and you can redeem only once.

Saturday in a garage, Saturday in a park

Two days later, the music moves into a parking structure. Kailua Town's free music series plays the second Saturday of every month from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Kailua parking garage behind Longs/CVS. On Saturday, November 14, the performers are Kalaʻe & Kalena. The series is listed on the Kailua Town events calendar, which also lets you subscribe in Google Calendar or Outlook.

The next Saturday the season heads out to Lanikai. The Lanikai Craft Fair is Saturday, November 21, 2026, at Lanikai Park. Volunteers organize the annual holiday fair, and it brings in more than 80 vendors. It's also the Lanikai Association's main fundraiser for maintaining Lanikai Park and the Lanikai beach rights of way.

Volunteer parking directors are part of the fair too. A 2023 vendor quoted on the association's page praised "the parking directors for staying out in the hot sun all day directing traffic." Give yourself extra time to park.

The Sunday the vendors are kids

The day after the Lanikai fair, the 340 Uluniu lot hosts its youngest vendors. The Collective, the Kailua tattoo café and gallery, is partnering with Lōkahi Kailua Market on a Children's Business Fair on Sunday, November 22. According to the Children's Business Fair listing, it's the ninth Kailua edition, held inside the market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 340 Uluniu Street. Young entrepreneurs develop a brand, create a product or service, market it and sell it to real customers.

That's Lōkahi's last Sunday at its usual address until December 27. The following Sunday, November 29, the Aloha Home Market rotation begins.

The lot by Maluniu got its turn first

One of Lōkahi's relocation venues is on Maluniu Avenue, the same street as one entrance to the Kailua Municipal Parking Lot. The city scheduled that lot for its own work before the holidays.

The City Department of Design and Construction scheduled the final stage of its archaeological survey at the lot for November 2 through 6, 2026, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. The survey was originally set to finish in April, but the March Kona Low stopped the crews. The plan calls for exploratory digs at five spots in the lot to check for culturally or historically significant resources before construction. Honua Consulting, the city's archaeological consultant, is assigned to monitor traffic during the work. Equipment could be staged along Aulike Street or Maluniu Avenue, and the city pointed drivers to alternate public parking across the street at 25 Aulike Street.

The holiday rush comes after that survey window, and the larger project is still a while off. DDC says improvements to the lot could begin at the end of 2027, with new asphalt, upgraded lighting, accessibility improvements, better pay stations and landscaping.

Into December, in order

Once the Sunday swap starts, the rest of the season fits around it:

1. Sundays, November 29 and December 6, 13 and 20. Aloha Home Market at 340 Uluniu Street, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lōkahi Kailua Market moves to one of its relocation venues.
2. Sunday, December 20, 2 p.m. The annual Olomana Christmas parade starts at Maunawili Elementary School, and the Honolulu Police Department will direct traffic, according to the Kailua Neighborhood Board's October 1 meeting minutes. The parade falls on the last Sunday of the market swap, so a morning on Uluniu and an afternoon in Maunawili fit in the same day.
3. Friday and Saturday, December 25 and 26. Hawaii State Public Library System branches, including the Kailua Public Library, close. Libraries that normally close on Mondays will open Monday, December 21, instead.
4. Sunday, December 27. Lōkahi Kailua Market lists its regular Sunday run through December 27, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., back at 340 Uluniu Street.
5. Friday and Saturday, January 1 and 2, 2027. Libraries close again. Monday-closed branches open Monday, December 28.

Through it all, the Sunday street parking that Lōkahi mentions stays free, and the public lots around Uluniu, Aulike and Maluniu do most of the work.

Our ʻohana at Sherine Duncan's Hawaii LUX Team loves seeing Kailua's lots and parks fill up for the holidays. If you're wondering how your Kailua home's walk to Uluniu Street or Lanikai Park shows up in its value, ask us for a free home valuation. We'll give you real numbers, no pressure, and your Sundays stay yours.