Faith Thompson began playing ukulele as a young girl growing up in Hawaii.

“We learned ukulele from all the aunts, uncles, grandpas and grandmas in the community,” Ms. Thompson said, while on the Vineyard this week to welcome the arrival of the Hokule’a. She played at the welcoming ceremony on Tuesday at Packer’s wharf, bringing the music of Hawaii to Hokule’a crew, which has been at sea for two years as part of a round-the-world journey.

But this was not Ms. Thompson’s first trip to the Vineyard. Last summer she headlined the first ever ukulele festival at Featherstone Center for the Arts.

Ms. Thompson grew up near Laie on the northern coast of Oahu, playing ukulele as a child but then stopping when she enrolled in college, even though the university was located on Hawaii. Later she moved to California with her husband and three children. When her oldest daughter began taking hula lessons in California it struck a chord with Ms. Thompson and she returned to the ukulele as a way to bring Hawaii back into her life.

“For me personally, my goal is to bring back the traditions,” she said. “You really don’t hear a lot of it anymore. You miss the stories behind it.”

Over the years Ms. Thompson has recorded her music and appeared in many ukulele festivals on the west coast. She is currently working on her fourth album, fitting in the time between her work as a special education assistant at a local Santa Rosa high school.

“This week is really about embracing culture,” said Ms. Thompson. “What’s a better place to be than an island on the east coast, secluded from the big world?”