An evening of song and dance -- in the manner that the hula master would have enjoyed -- marked Friday's celebration of life of the man the world knew as "Uncle George."

The Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo was decked with thousands of flowers -- both on the stage and on the people -- and dotted with paintings of George Louis Lanakilakeikiahiali'i Na'ope. In one, he's a younger man depicted strumming a guitar and wearing a yellow lei. In another, he's pounding an ipu heke, or double gourd.

Na'ope's cremated remains were wrapped in white kapa and placed in a polished wooden 'umeke (container), flanked by two small white feather kahili. The 'umeke, draped with a single lei, sat on a platform in front of the stage that was decked with maile and many lei. His family sat in chairs on the auditorium floor.

Na'ope died Oct. 26 at his Waiakea Uka home at the age of 81.

He had been in poor health for a long time, but found the energy during this year's Merrie Monarch Festival to appear in a wheelchair at several performances, including the final night of competition.

Friday's memorial and celebration will continue today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Civic; the Rev. Kaniela Akaka Jr. will officiate a Hawaiian service beginning at 1 p.m. Aloha attire, of course, is requested. Including today, his public service spans 16 hours, spread over two days.

Na'ope became known for his strict application of traditional dance.

In the early 1960s, he was hired by county chairman and chief executive officer Helene Hale (who sat Friday in the second row, behind Na'ope's sisters). Hale appointed Na'ope the promoter of activities for Hawaii County, which largely involved bringing events to the Civic.

"It's a celebration for a very interesting guy," Hale said. "He brought so much aloha to the state, and I've never seen anything like this for a celebration of life. I always believed that (hiring) George was the best thing I ever did."

Hoping to bring in more tourism to Hawaii County, Hale sent Na'ope and administrative assistant Gene Wilhelm to Maui to observe a popular festival called the Whaler's Spree. The two came back, and Na'ope suggested that the county hold a festival in honor of King David Kalakaua, the Merrie Monarch.

Hale said the choice of the Civic as a venue for the service was appropriate.

"This is where the Merrie Monarch Festival was done at first," she said. "This was his job, to promote the activities here."

He served as a festival judge for many years but gave it up when, as he said, he made too many enemies.

Na'ope's other contribution was to turn hula into an international event. Through frequent travels to Japan, he became recognized everywhere, said close friend Clive Tanimoto.

"He was a character," Tanimoto said. "He was a wealth of knowledge."

Everybody who knew Na'ope has a story to tell, Tanimoto said. Na'ope was well-loved because he was so approachable. He would meet with heads of state, but give the shirt off his back to a homeless person.

People from "all different walks of life, everyone would all aloha him, he was so well-known," he said.

Friday's service appeared at times like an all-star concert. Robert Cazimero, Darlene Ahuna, Palani Vaughn, Eric and Pomaika'i Keawe (the son and granddaughter of the late Genoa Keawe) all performed one last time for Na'ope.

The judges of the Moku O Keawe International Festival made a quick visit from Waikoloa to pay their respects to the family.

Cazimero remarked that there was "one hell of a big party up there in the sky."

One of Na'ope's best-known students, kumu hula Rae Fonseca, met Na'ope around age 11 and became a student about two years later.

"He was very strict. A loving strict," Fonseca said. "There was no fooling around, and that's how you get to the learning process."

One thing Na'ope was fond of saying, Fonseca said, was that "Hula was the ability to create one's most inner feelings." It's a statement Fonseca has passed on to his students today, who now pick up the burden of carrying on Na'ope's tradition.

Fonseca learned from Na'ope, "so that would make him a hula god to me," said Ramsey Kamelamela, a student of Halau Hula O Kahikilaulani. He said it put a lot of pressure on the halau to dance in front of Na'ope.

The art of hula would have been weaker without him, Kamelamela said. "He perpetuated it and brought it back."

Kumu hula Iwalani Kalima helped coordinate the service. She became a student of Na'ope at the age of 8 and later became a caregiver.

She compared his role in the hula to that of Kalakaua, except that Na'ope revived hula by sharing it with the world.

Friday's Roman Catholic service began at 5:30 p.m. After the placement of lei by the royal societies, and the invocation by Pastor Brian Welsh, Mayor Billy Kenoi read a proclamation marking today "Uncle George Naope Day" in Hawaii County.

The audience sang "Hawai'i Aloha" and listened to an a capella hymn by Kimo Kahoano.

Throughout the speeches by friends, a portrait emerged of a man who loved life, cigarettes, alcohol and all.

"There are so many sides of uncle," said Skylark Rossetti. "Uncle used to tell me, when I met you, you were my size. Now look at you.

"He was a jokester. He loved to laugh," she said.

The younger students of Halau O Kekuhi perfomed a hula in front of the 'umeke.

Kumu hula Chinky Mahoe, another of Na'ope's former students, thanked his late teacher "for putting up with me when I first started dancing hula ... I had two left feet. I still have, but they developed now, and uncle was able to teach and to be able to scold me so that I was able to dance his hula." He then performed a song that Na'ope had taught to him.

Born in Kalihi, Oahu, but raised in Keaukaha, Na'ope began learning hula at the age of 3 from Mary Ahi'ena Kekuewa -- the mother of Edith Kanaka'ole. He began teaching hula in 1942, at the age of 14, and studied from various other hula masters on Oahu.

Na'ope was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and spent two years in frontline combat with the Army Corps of Engineers.

In addition to the Merrie Monarch Festival, he has also helped to found the King David Kalakaua Hula Festival in Kailua-Kona, the George Na'ope Northwest Hula Festival in Seattle, the George Na'ope Kane Hula Festival in Modesto, Calif., the George Na'ope Keiki Hula Festival in Modesto, and Hilo's own George Na'ope Kane Hula Festival.

Na'ope is survived by a hanai son, Byers Hoapili Na'ope of Hilo; one brother, three sisters, numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Dodo Mortuary is handling arrangements under the supervision of Princess Abigail Kawananakoa.