08/25/2026
🌺 The Oregon Aloha Festival 2026 🌺
A weekend filled with love, culture, family, and so much TALAVOU PRIDE! First and foremost, thank you to the Man Above for blessing us with this beautiful gift of dance, the talent within our children, and most importantly, the amazing families who have supported Talavou since Day 1.
A HUGE shoutout to the Oregon Aloha Festival for giving us the incredible opportunity to share our beautiful Samoa, our culture, our traditions, and our hearts with the community. We are so grateful for the love and space you continue to create for our Pasefika people. Auntie Naomi, Auntie Tiara & the entire crew, we love and appreciate you! Thank you for welcoming us, believing in us, and allowing Talavou to be part of something so special.
To my dear Talavou parents, THANK YOU! 🥹Your continuous support, love, sacrifices, encouragement, and willingness to show up for our students means more than you know. I am beyond proud to stand beside you and be the leader of these amazing children. Talavou would not be what it is without our parents behind it. And a very special Fa'amalo ma le Fa'afetai to our Elder Lead, Auntie Kris Galago.Thank you for always keeping our students together, making sure everyone was under one roof, helping us prepare, and being that extra set of hands and heart that Talavou needs. We love you, Auntie Kris! 🫶
To my coolest students, You are not only dancers, you are leaders, helpers, role models, and little ambassadors of our culture. Watching you step on that stage with confidence, energy, and pride makes Auntie’s heart SO FULL. I hope you know just how proud I am of every single one of you. Keep leading. Keep learning. Keep representing. Keep making your families and your culture proud.
To my KREW, thank you for holding onto Talavou and continuing to keep our academy moving forward. We are learning as we grow together. We may not always have the answers, and every decision isn't easy. We don't always operate perfectly, but we continue to communicate, support one another, respect each other's opinions, and learn something new every day. And THAT is growth.
To our Vendors, supporters, friends, families, and the entire Lane County community, THANK YOU! Thank you for showing up. Thank you for supporting local organizations. Thank you for welcoming our Pasefika people and allowing us the opportunity to share our talents, our stories, our music, our dance, and most importantly, OUR CULTURE. It means so much to see our children have a place where they can proudly say, “This is who we are.”
To everyone who played a part, whether you danced, practiced, cooked, drove, donated, volunteered, encouraged, clapped, cheered, shared a post, purchased from our vendors, or simply showed up, YOU ARE PART OF THE TALAVOU STORY.This is more than dance. This is culture. This is family. This is community. Our youth. Our culture. Our future.
🗣CHEEE HOOOO!!!
