After a year of struggle, Volcano will welcome travelers back to Hawaii with the second Experience Volcano Festival in August.

The festival started in 2019 and was supposed to be an annual event, but the COVID-19 pandemic hampered its scheduled second event in July 2020. However, as visitor and vaccination rates rise in the state, the festival will return on August 14th.

Jesse Tunison, press and public relations specialist for the Experience Volcano Hawaii tourism initiative, said the 2019 festival was a success, bringing more than 3,000 guests to the village over two days.

This year’s event will only take place on a single day – Tunison said Experience Volcano doesn’t want to “bite off more than we can chew” – but Tunison said he still hopes for around 1,500 attendees.

The festival includes a 3 mile and half marathon, activities like community art projects, blown glass demonstrations, local vendors, live music, and more.

Tunison said he believes the event will attract locals and visitors alike looking to attend a festival after a year of COVID lockdown.

“Part of this event is that we assume that a lot of people are looking forward to a return to normal,” said Tunison.

The festival is also a relief for the volcanic people themselves. Tunison said the village, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism, became a “ghost town” last year when travel to the state was suspended.

However, the city is busy today as the number of visitors to the state continues to grow.

Janet Coney, manager of Kilauea Lodge restaurant in Volcano, said she believes the restaurant is close to pre-COVID traffic every day. Although she said the situation was obviously preferable to the 2020 doldrums, she said the restaurant could be almost overwhelmed as some positions were still vacant after COVID layoffs.

“I feel bad about turning people away every day,” said Janet Coney, manager of Kilauea Lodge restaurant in Volcano. “We still have a 50% capacity limitation, so we only have nine tables and there’s not much we can do about that.”

Tunison said the city’s short-term vacation rentals, which were completely banned for a few months in 2020, are now largely booked out.

Kathleen Golden, co-owner of the Volcano Rainforest Retreat bed and breakfast, said her occupancy rose from 50% at the end of last year to 100% in the past three months, with bookings filling fast for the next several months as well.

“It is obviously very encouraging to be able to recover financially because we did very badly last year,” said Golden, adding that the occupancy rate is now better than it was in January and February 2020, before the pandemic hit the US

Golden added that her guests seem very excited to just visit Hawaii and Volcano after their year of exile.

“They’re just so interested and happy to be here and relax,” said Golden. “You feel the need to go outside and meet people again.”

Send an email to Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.