The idea of the festival came to Ka'uhane Lee in a dream.

Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw it — groups of Pacific islanders coming together to celebrate and share their cultures.

"These ideas and thoughts and images just kept running through my mind," Lee said. "I had to do something."

Three years ago, she organized the first Moahi Native Cultural Festival at Windward Mall. More than 8,000 came.

The next year, she moved it to Kapi'olani Park to accommodate the crowd, which is expected to exceed 10,000 tomorrow.

The response has been overwhelming and unexpected — and inspiring.

"Extending and sharing our culture is unlimited," said Lee, president and cultural event director of the Ka Ala 'Olino Native Cultural Center in Kane'ohe. "We're bringing people together, particularly Pacific islanders, in unity, peace, healing and aloha. We're exchanging our culture and supporting one another. And above all, we're sharing that with the world."

The festival kicks off Makahiki Pasifika Week celebrating all things Polynesian, showcasing traditional music, dancing, foods, arts and crafts.

The purpose of the event is to promote the appreciation and perpetuation of Polynesian culture during the makahiki season, which starts in mid-October and continues through February. For Polynesians, this is a period of reflection and celebration, a time to pay respects to ancestors, to grow and change.

The hope is that everyone — not just Polynesians — can learn from each other.

"There are real-life contemporary issues, like traffic and education, that some of these islands have found creative, indigenous ways to approach," said Gretchen Kelly, project coordinator at Pasifika Foundation who helped organize Makahiki Pasifika Week. "We could do well to look at that in a more in-depth way, even just to learn what the concerns are of people throughout the region."

In Hawai'i, for example, cultural practices thrive, thanks to a visitor industry craving authentic experiences. But even those have been commercialized in lu'au shows that incorporate traditional dance and music for a non-native audience.

"The cultural and geographic connections are much stronger here than in the rest of the Pacific," said Kelly. "But we sort of lost touch."

Connecting with culture has been important to Halona Wily, a 30-year-old mother of two from La'ie who will attend tomorrow's festival.

Wily helped to start the Samoan International Peace Club at Kahuku High School three years ago. The goal of the club is to instill pride in Polynesian kids, to — as she puts it — heal through culture. It now boasts up to 150 kids.

"There's a lot of pride, but there needs to be a focus on it," said Wily, who, with her husband Taylor, runs All Heart Productions, a music-production company. "There's so many rivalries among schools, drugs and gangs ... We're going to teach the kids what we know, teach them about their culture, and their culture has nothing to do with those things. We have so much to offer."

Two years ago, Kahuku High organized the first Fealofani ("Love One Another") Day for Polynesian clubs in Hawai'i high schools. Last year, more than 500 kids turned out for the event, sharing their culture and celebrating both their differences and commonalities.

"If kids learn about their culture, they have more to hold onto, more of an identity," Wily said.

She sees culture as a tool of healing, of connecting people and strengthening communities. And that's why she supports this festival.

"How can I help my neighbor when I can't help my house?" she asked. "You have to look at your community and do something about it."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.