Rice Fest Returns on Sept. 29

The third-annual Rice Fest will be held Saturday, Sept. 29 at Ward Centers. This year, the free all-day event is sponsored by Hawaii Pacific Entertainment, VH07V, and Common Grains.

Rice Fest will offer activities, entertainment, and of course food, all inspired by rice, “a cultural cornerstone to so many in Hawaii.”

Last year, organizers built the world’s largest Spam musubi, as recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. It was created with 320 cups of rice, 26 cans of spam, and more than 120 sheets of nori, and weighed in at 286 pounds.

The plan is to go even bigger next month.

“Getting our name in the global record books last year was a pretty exciting thing, and we’re going to surpass our own record on September 29,” said Rice Fest founder Ed Sugimoto in a prepared statement. “September is National Rice Month, and it just made sense to create and break the record here, where both rice and SPAM are such regular staples. We’d like to keep the record in Hawaii. ”

There will also be a Spam musubi eating contest, a “riceipe” cooking contest, professional chef demonstration, and an all-ages scavenger hunt. Entertainment will include Jody Kamisato and Ukulele Hale, taiko drumming by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko.

And participants are encouraged to donate rice to Lanakila Pacific’s “Meals on Wheels,” a volunteer-run nonprofit program that provides island-wide meal service for needy seniors.

Other sponsors include the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, Vacations Hawaii, One Hundred Thirty Plus Zero, Yelp Hawaii and Channel808.TV.

The 3rd Annual Rice Fest runs from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at Ward Centers. For more information, visit www.ricefest.com, follow @ricefest on Twitter, or ‘Like’ the event on Facebook at facebook.com/ricefesthawaii.