Aloha! Keith and Nani Lowery were married in Kaneohe, HI on June 28, 1986. Other than their love for God and each other, their passion throughout their marriage is perpetuating the Aloha spirit. Nani was born and raised in Hawaii, on the Windward side of Oahu. She has played the ukulele for as long as she can remember. Keith plays the UBass, and together they have performed at various venues. After attending the Funky Frets Ukulele Festival in early October of 2018 (where Nani was one of the instructors), Keith got the idea of creating a similar ukulele festival for the DMV. By the 1st of November 2018, the Gaithersburg UkeFest website was active, and 5 months later the 2019 Inaugural Gaithersburg UkeFest was held.
We invite you to explore the website, to see what Gaithersburg UkeFest has created for the ukulele community. The 2019 and 2022 in-person festivals were very successful, and the 2018 Kanikapila Kollective was a fun and worthwhile community event, including performances from Ukulele Clubs and Jams from Northern Virginia, Maryland, and the panhandle of West Virginia! During the shutdown periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gaithersburg UkeFest created and produced 4 separate virtual ukulele festivals of 3 or 4-month durations of time. A summary of these events are discussed below, along with collages of the ukulele artists who appeared during each period of time. Whether you were one of the artists who performed on them, or attended as an observer, I hope you will agree that these events were well worth your time!