If you haven't yet visited the Queen Emma Summer Palace in Nu'uanu, or if you go only once a year, the time to hele on over is Saturday, when the 31st Annual Day at Queen Summer Palace unfolds.

"We'll have food at a mini food court, local vendors selling crafts and entertainers who will perform manuahi (free)," said Gerry Miyamoto, regent for the sponsoring Daughters of Hawai'i organization, whose mission is to preserve the spirit and language of the Islands.

"It's our annual fundraiser and we have a two-fold goal: It's a 'friend-raiser' because we want the community to come and share the day. And we want the malihini to come visit, to experience a feeling of genuine aloha, of being local and Hawaiian."

The site, the summer refuge for King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, is a cool, shady destination in Nu'uanu Valley. Its Hawaiian name is Hanaiakamalama, literally meaning "foster child of the moon."

"King Kamehameha and Queen Emma would come up here to wind down," Miyamoto said. "She had inherited this house from her uncle. It was comfortable, cozier, with a garden with laua'e (a fern) and a small kalo (taro) patch. They loved being up here; made them closer as a family."

Thus, visitors will stroll where the ali'i lived when they were not at the seat of government, 'Iolani Palace.

Self-guided tours are possible, but docents will be in each room to share a bit of Island history.

Most people drive by the palace as they traverse the Pali Highway; few stop by. Thus, said Miyamoto, this is an opportunity to explore.

The grounds will be festooned with floral arrangements. A fashion show is on tap.

Entertainers will include Jerry Santos & Friends, the Royal Hawaiian Band, Keola Chan & Friends, Halau Hula Olana, Ka Hale I O Kahala and the Punahou Alumni Glee Club.

"This is absolutely the day to come," Miyamoto said.

Proceeds will support maintenance of the Summer Palace as well as the Hulihe'e Palace in Kailua, Kona. "They're both our kuleana," Miyamoto said of the historic sites.

The palace is believed to be a pre-fab home imported from the East Coast around 1848; the Daughters of Hawai'i were able to acquire the palace and grounds from the territorial government in 1913. For a time, the facility was rented out but fell into disrepair, Miyamoto said.

"It was going to be razed and replaced by a baseball field, but the Daughters, formed in 1903, said, 'No, no, we wanted to preserve it,' " she said.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.