It’s kind of impossible to say no to the possibility of warm, tropical weather in February, so when Jasper Wong, founder and organizer of the Pow!Wow! Mural Festival invited us out to Honolulu, it wasn’t a tough decision.

Sure, mural festivals are about painting walls, but the best ones are as much about the experience as they are about the art. It’s really easy to want to stay involved because the people behind Pow! Wow! do it right.

This year’s festival went from February 8th through the 17th, with a roster full of high profile artists. Shepard Fairey painted his first mural in Hawaii. Brothers How & Nosm, Logan Hicks, Crash, Amy Sol, OG Slick, Aaron De La Cruz, Michael Reeder, Kevin Lyons, Apexer, Caratoes, Woes, and many others came out and put up amazing work all around the Kaka’ako neighborhood.

Nightly events included artist talks with Logan Hicks, Jasper Wong, Shepard Fairey, and Kevin Lyons, and an art show hosted by Spoke Art in the Ala Moana Center, their fourth annual My Neighbor Hayao show.

Thinkspace Gallery from Los Angeles presented their sixth annual Exploring the New Contemporary Movement exhibition which featured over 100 pieces of work from Pow!Wow! artists as well as others around the world.

Participants of Pow!Wow! also enjoyed a Friday night Eminem concert at Oloha Stadium with 25,000 of our closest friends.

Special thanks to the Hawaiian Tourism Authority, Montana Cans, Alohilani Resorts, Hawaiian Airlines, 47 Brand, City Mill, Monster Energy, Heineken US, Thinkspace Art, Olukai, Our Kaka’Ako, and Ward Village for sponsoring and supporting the festival.

Photos by Mike Stalter @mike_stalter // Pow!Wow! School of Music Photos by @michellemishina