ABSTRACT
Whale Day is Maui’s longest free annual event. The first Whale Day was held in 1980, as a way to celebrate the founding of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) (501c3) Pacific Whale Foundation and acknowledge the community’s support for whale conservation. The inaugural event, planned by the few founding staff, included a free concert, a five-kilometre pledge-walk/run, donated food concessions and informational displays at a public park. In the following years, the event expanded to include displays by other local environmental organisations and children’s educational activities. The focus of the event has always been the annual migration of the North Pacific humpback whale and the surrounding marine environment, which includes important breeding grounds for these animals.
