Where in South Kona can you see new work by a local artist on an ordinary Tuesday at lunch? Right now the answer is a sunroom in Mango Court, Kainaliu. The South Kona Artists Collective hangs a new show there at the start of every month, and anyone ordering smoked fish can see it.
The restaurant is SOKO Kitchen & Cocktails. The collective also goes by SOKO, and it describes the arrangement as sharing "our namesake's space." The collective's calendar already has two big dates, a December holiday sale and a February studio tour. The restaurant wall covers the months in between, so the collective's work is now on view whenever the kitchen is open.
The room on Hawaii Belt Road
SOKO Kitchen & Cocktails is at 79-7460 Hawaii Belt Rd, Ste A 104, in Kainaliu. The Hawaiʻi Public Radio community calendar puts the same address in Mango Court. The restaurant describes itself as a place where "a weathered tin roof gives way to a sunroom wrapped around tall palms," and adds, "The building came with its character — we just brought the aloha and the fire."
The menu runs mauka to makai. From the uplands there are kiawe-smoked meats and kalua pork. From the water there are ahi and local catch. Garden vegetables come from nearby farms. The kitchen smokes fish, chicken and kalua pork in-house every day and cures its own fish. It also serves ceviche and ahi tartare. The signature cocktails are infused and barrel-aged, made with local honey, macadamia and citrus.
The hours shape when you can see the art:
- Tuesday through Thursday: kitchen 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., bar 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: kitchen 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., bar 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Sunday and Monday: closed
So the show is open five days a week, from late morning into the evening. The SOKO Artists say many of the works are for sale.
A new wall on the first Friday
The schedule is simple. Each exhibit goes up on the first Friday of the month, and the collective holds an artists' reception from 4 to 6 p.m. that day. The series started in October with fiber artists Ellen Crocker, Trudy Koszarek and Catherine Wynne, whose work hung from October 2 through November 5.
The collective lists these shows for the rest of 2026:
| Dates | Artists | Reception |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 6 to Dec. 3 | Ginger Sandell and Mark Martel | Held Friday, Nov. 6 |
| Dec. 4 to Dec. 31 | Lorie Taylor and Connie Sizemore | Friday, Dec. 4, 4 to 6 p.m. |
The Sandell and Martel show is up now and runs three more weeks. The next reception, on Friday, December 4, opens the Taylor and Sizemore show, and it's the first stop of a December that the collective spreads along Māmalahoa Highway.
Eight days later, Yano Hall
The collective's 2026 pop-up holiday sale is Saturday, December 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Yano Hall in Captain Cook. The county lists the building as Sgt. Rodney J.T. Yano Memorial Hall, 82-6156 Mamalahoa Highway. The KonaWeb calendar places the hall across from the Manago Hotel. It describes the sale as featuring many SOKO artists, with items made especially for the season.
If you've seen a painter's work at lunch in Kainaliu in November or December, the Yano Hall tables won't be your first look at it. Taylor and Sizemore will be on the Mango Court wall the whole week before the sale and for weeks after it.
The collective's notice says Yano Hall is "by the Kona Green Market." That's the Pure Kona Green Market at Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Hawaii Belt Rd in Captain Cook. It runs every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free. The Sunday after the sale is December 13, which leads to the next stop.
The Aloha Theatre fills in the nights
The Aloha Theatre, at 79-7384 Mamalahoa Hwy in Kealakekua, has a December lineup that fits around the collective's dates. Here's the month in order, with the art dates included:
- Friday, Dec. 4: Taylor and Sizemore reception at SOKO Kitchen & Cocktails, 4 to 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, Dec. 9: A Christmas Story, Friday Flicks at the Aloha Theatre, 7 p.m.
- Thursday, Dec. 10: White Christmas, 7 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 11: Krampus, 8 p.m. Friday Flicks screenings are listed at $10.
- Saturday, Dec. 12: SOKO pop-up holiday sale at Yano Hall, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 13: Pure Kona Green Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., the Kona Aloha Singers perform Holiday In The City at the Aloha Theatre, $5 to $25.
- Saturday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Dec. 20: West Hawaiʻi Dance Theatre's The Nutcracker, at 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, $50 to $55.
- Saturday, Dec. 26: Die Hard, Friday Flicks, 7 p.m.
- Monday, Dec. 28: Rocky Mountain High: John Denver Christmas, 7:30 p.m., $35 to $75.
Check the theater's ticketing page for seats before you plan an evening around a show. Several dates offer a waitlist.
Kainaliu has its own holiday night too. KonaWeb lists Kainaliu Kalikimaka, A Holiday Stroll, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. with food, live music, crafts, giveaways, kids' activities and Santa, and gives its 2026 date as December TBA. Once that date is set, the stroll and the Mango Court wall are both in Kainaliu, so a December evening can include both.
After the holidays, the studios open
The reception calendar, the Yano Hall sale and the theater nights run through the end of December. The collective's next big date is already set. The 2027 SOKO Artists Studio Tour runs Saturday and Sunday, February 27 and 28, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Yano Hall, artist studios and other venues across South Kona.
The collective says exhibits will change on the first Friday of every month. That would put new shows up on January 1 and February 5, 2027, with names posted on the SOKO Artists events page as they're announced. Before the February tour, you can spend some lunches in Mango Court seeing whose work is on the wall, then visit those artists in their own studios on tour weekend.
For more on South Kona's everyday calendar along the Māmalahoa Highway, see our look at the errand loop around Kealakekua Ranch Center and our South Kona neighborhood guide.
At Kona Pacific Realty, we live along this stretch of highway too, and the first-Friday receptions are going on our own calendars. If you're thinking about your South Kona home this season, whether you're curious about its value or just want a local opinion, reach out to your Kona agent or get your free home valuation. Me ke aloha pumehana.
