Some card shows feel like a grind — you walk in with a binder, work the floor, work it again, and walk out. The first Keep It Aloha Card Show was a different kind of weekend. Hosted by Kamaka Dias and Hawaii Collectibles at SALT at Our Kaka’ako on May 2–3, the show pulled in 70+ vendors and more than 5,000 attendees of all ages across two beautiful Hawaii afternoons. It was the kind of event you could spend the whole day at.
That isn’t a small thing for a first event. Kamaka summed it up best in his post-show note: “Get super addicted to Pokémon and then throw a FREE card show for the community a couple months later ✅” — and he meant free: free for vendors, free for the public, no admission charged at the door.
The free-for-everyone setup was made possible by @getcollectr, the show’s headline sponsor. In a hobby that often runs on $5 doors and $150 vendor tables, removing the cost barrier on both sides changes who shows up. You saw it on the floor — families with strollers, first-time collectors, longtime vendors, kids leading their parents around. A wider crowd = a better show.
Live music from Dillon Pakele and Pakele Entertainment set the tempo through both days. That choice mattered. A card show with music isn’t a small detail — it shifts the energy from transactional to social. People hung around longer. They actually talked instead of just trading. The whole floor felt less like a grind and more like a Saturday afternoon with friends.
Hydration was on @waiakea, tables came courtesy of Aloha Card Shop, and the design that tied it all together was by @merchlabs. Each piece was small on its own. Together they made the difference between “a card show in a venue” and “an actual event.”
Plenty of fun deals and trades happened on the floor, but two pulls stood out:
Beyond the rips, plenty of good trades got done across Pokemon, One Piece, sports, and Japanese imports. The vendor mix was diverse and the cards moving were good cards.
Kamaka closed his thank-you post with a phrase worth repeating: “It’s truly a kākou thing.” Kākou — we, together. That was the energy of the weekend. Big shoutouts to @hnlcollectibles, @hicollectibles, Faith Rogers, Kamaka’s siblings, the volunteer helpers, and every single vendor who showed up to make it happen.
The Hawaii card scene is at its best when shows like this exist alongside the regular weekly trade nights and quarterly conventions. Keep It Aloha didn’t replace anything — it added something the calendar didn’t have yet.
The next Keep It Aloha is locked in for Friday, June 5, 2026. Venue and time are still being finalized — follow @kamakarips for the announcement.
After that, mark July 4–5, 2026 — Independence Day weekend, two-day return to SALT.
The next show is Friday, June 5, 2026. Follow @kamakarips for venue + time.
View Show →