At 6 p.m. on a Monday, the Coronation Pavilion at Queens' MarketPlace hosts a free hour of traditional and modern hula. The next morning at 9, the action is across Waikoloa Beach Drive at Kings' Shops, where Local Market Tuesdays runs until 2:30 p.m. The resort's free week works like that all fall. Each center takes certain nights, Wednesday is the one night both are busy, and the centers' own event calendars give the most detailed, date-by-date view, more than the resort-wide summary page does.
Here is the week as both centers list it in October 2026.
| Day | Center | What's on | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Queens' MarketPlace | Hula show, Coronation Pavilion | 6–7 p.m. |
| Tuesday | Kings' Shops | Local Market Tuesdays | 9 a.m.–2:30 p.m. |
| Wednesday | Queens' MarketPlace | Ukulele lesson with Kris Fuchigami | 6–7 p.m. |
| 2nd and 4th Wednesdays | Kings' Shops | Fires of Polynesia by Nahoa Entertainment | 8–8:30 p.m. |
| Friday | Queens' MarketPlace | BikeWorks Friday Run Club 5K | 5:30 p.m. |
| Friday | Queens' MarketPlace | Mākeke Fridays sunset market | 4–7 p.m. |
| 3rd Saturday | Queens' MarketPlace | Kanikapila Monthly Concert Series | 6–8 p.m. |
Queens' MarketPlace holds most of the evenings. Kings' Shops has the one daytime market and the one fire show. The schedules only overlap on Wednesday, and that is also the night that has changed the most over the past year.
Wednesday has been rebuilt twice in a year
Queens' starts the evening with a weekly ukulele lesson at the Coronation Pavilion, 6 to 7 p.m., taught by Kris Fuchigami. Queens' calls him a three-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano award winner. It provides ukuleles and sheet music to the first nine people who arrive, and anyone else is welcome to bring their own instrument. The event page doesn't list a price, so if you plan to borrow one of the nine loaner ukuleles, getting there early matters more than the cost.
On the second and fourth Wednesdays, things move to Kings' Shops at 8 p.m. for Fires of Polynesia, a free 30-minute show from Nahoa Entertainment. It covers songs and dances from Tahiti, New Zealand and Samoa, ends with a Samoan fire-knife finale, and includes a Tahitian dance lesson. In October 2026 the show falls on October 14 and October 28. In November it falls on the 11th and 25th. Kings' Shops says the show's days and times can change.
The fire show hasn't always been on. Late in 2025, Kings' Shops listed weekly Wednesday Cultural Experiences at 5:30 p.m. by the lakeside, presented by Nakoa Entertainment. The program was free and first-come, first-served, with lei making while supplies lasted, hula lessons and Polynesian drum lessons with limited spaces. That page says the series was introduced "while our fire shows are on pause," and that its last 2025 session was Wednesday, December 17. Now the fire show is back on the 2026 calendar, and Kings' hasn't posted a fall 2026 return for the lei and drum sessions.
So over about twelve months, Wednesday at Kings' went from a fire show, to a weekly hands-on cultural hour, and back to a twice-monthly fire show. Someone following last year's schedule would turn up at 5:30 on the wrong Wednesday expecting lei making.
The stage has changed too. The resort's January 2026 newsletter said Kings' Shops had repainted the center, expanded and relit its stage, and added seating and landscaping. So the fire show now runs on a bigger, relit stage with more seating around it.
The Kings' Shops market now runs on Tuesday
The Wednesday changes help explain a smaller mismatch on Tuesday. The Waikoloa Beach Resort entertainment page, dated May 11, 2026, still describes a Wednesday market at Kings' Shops. Kings' Shops' own dated 2026 listing is titled "Local Market Tuesdays 2026" and lists the market every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., including the October 13 session.
The listing names its regular vendors: Hula Hands and Soaps, Christina Fruits & Veggies, Hamakua Creations, Color Street, CBD Hawaii, Coconuts–Superbees Kona and Aloha Craft Co. Kings' notes that the lineup can change. This is the resort's only weekday-morning market. It mixes produce with soaps, crafts and gifts, so a Tuesday stop can cover both a grocery run and a few small gifts.
Friday and the third Saturday belong to Queens'
By the weekend, nearly everything is at Queens' MarketPlace. Mākeke Fridays is a weekly 4 to 7 p.m. sunset market with local makers, farmers, food vendors and live music. The BikeWorks Beach & Sports Friday Run Club also starts at 5:30 p.m. every Friday. It's a social 5K along the Waikoloa coastline, and Queens' says all paces are welcome. Because the run club starts in the middle of the market, you can run the 5K and still make it back while the vendors are open.
On the third Saturday of each month, two more events come to Queens'. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Olivia Clare Boutique holds a drop day for gently used designer clothing, accessories and aloha wear. That evening, the Kanikapila Monthly Concert Series fills the Coronation Pavilion from 6 to 8 p.m. KWXX sponsors the series, and each month features a different Hawaiʻi Island musician. October 17 features Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award winner Kenny Tagavilla, known as Kenny T, from Hōnaunau in South Kona. Keoni Thompson is listed for November 21. The concert page doesn't list a price.
Queens' newer restaurants make these evenings easier to plan around. PATINA is open daily from 4 to 9 p.m. Kona Biscuit Company serves breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and its evening concept, The Roost, opens Wednesday through Saturday, so it's open on both Mākeke Friday and Kanikapila Saturday.
The dated additions for late October
On top of the weekly pattern, three one-off events are on the calendars this month:
- Friday, October 16, Queens' MarketPlace. Mākeke Fridays becomes a Paniolo Sunset Market and runs an extra hour, 4 to 8 p.m. Saddle Road Band starts the evening, followed by line dancing and local food and artisan vendors. The Friday Run Club meets at 5:30 that night too.
- Thursday, October 29, Kings' Shops. Big Island Brewhaus evening event, 6 to 8:30 p.m.
- Friday, October 30, Kings' Shops. Free Halloween Spooktacular, 5 to 7 p.m., with a maze, trick-or-treating, games, photos and activities.
What isn't on a 2026 calendar yet
Some of the resort's best-known traditions don't have a posted fall 2026 date as of mid-October.
Queens' MarketPlace calls HalloQueen an annual October 31 trick-or-treat event, and calls December photos with Santa an annual tradition. Its annual-events page doesn't confirm a 2026 date or schedule for either one. If HalloQueen does go ahead on October 31, it would fall the day after the Kings' Spooktacular, but nothing has confirmed that yet.
The free guided petroglyph tours are the clearest example. The resort's entertainment page describes them in general terms with no days or hours. The most recent specific schedule in the research is from the resort's January/February 2024 newsletter. It listed Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., meeting next to Island Fish & Chips at Kings' Shops. That's more than two years old, and given how much Wednesday has changed in just one year, it's best not to plan a morning around it until a current schedule is posted.
For now, the most up-to-date view of the week is the two event pages, Kings' Shops for Tuesday mornings and alternate Wednesday nights, and Queens' MarketPlace for almost everything else. Both list individual dates, which makes them the simplest pages to check before heading out.
When friends ask what to do at the resort this week, you can send them the table above. If you're thinking about what your own place on Waikoloa Beach Drive is worth now, Lovette Llantos can help with that too. Get your free home valuation, and we'll send you a clear, current number.
