My family will be on Maui at the end of the year, and the teenagers
are already wondering what we'll find to do on New Year's Eve.  I'd be
happy to celebrate with a midnight swim under the stars, but think
they have something a little more "social" in mind.  We'd appreciate
any information you can find about community-sponsored New Year's Eve
events anywhere on the island, as well as any commercial (e.g. resort
or restaurant sponsored) shows etc.   Many thanks!

I asked a Hawaiian friend where she would go on December 31st if she
still lived on Maui, and she recommended the New Year's Eve party at
the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel, which has been called "The Most Hawaiian
Hotel on the Best Island in the World." My friend says it is necessary
to get reservations months in advance, since this is a very popular
event.

http://www.kbhmaui.com/dining/eventlist.html

E pili mau nâ pômaika'i me 'oe! ("May you have good fortune!")

Google is not accepting any more researchers at this time, but I play
a librarian in real life. Therefore I’ll attempt an answer under the
comments.  It’s a nice diversion.

I usually start these sorts of inquiries by going to the department of
tourism website on the state website in question.  Most (but not all)
states use the format: www.state.xx.us, where xx equals the two letter
postal abbreviation for the state.  Therefore,

http://www.state.hi.us is the state of Hawaii.

I then clicked on the Visiting Hawaii link and on the subsequent page
clicked on the Maui Visitor's Bureau link under "Travel and Tourism". 
That got me here:

http://www.visitmaui.com/index.html 

This is a good place to start with a good deal of information.

Depending upon the length of stay, you might want to check out the
"More for Less" link on the top of the page.  However, for things to
do on Dec. 31, click on the "Calendar of Events" link about half way
down the page (the home page of visitmaui.com, that is.)  From the
calendar of events page, if you click on the December 2002 link,
nothing specific for December 31 is listed.  However, there are some
continuing events if you click on the "Ongoing Special Events" link. 
Dec. 31, 2002 is on a Tuesday this year, by the way.

The link to the Maui Historical Society Events also lists some
interesting activities & tours.  Unfortunately, the information listed
is for 2001.  (http://www.mauimuseum.org/ is their website.)

While still in the calendar of events, whenever you need, click on
return to top on the left side of the page.  This takes you back to
the category & links section of the page.

There is also a link to the Maui County Calendar of Events
(http://www.calendarmaui.com/).  From here, click on the next arrows
until you get the December 2002 calendar (right side of the page). 
Then click on Dec. 31 on the calendar.  This gives all day events,
such as the Oceanfront New Year's Eve Luau and the Great Maui Whale
Festival.  At 11:35 p.m. there is also a New Year Blessing Service at
the Paia Mantokuji Mission.

Finally, if you click on the Statewide Calendar of Events link, it
opens a page from http://www.calendar.gohawaii.com/.   You can do a
search on this page for December 31, 2002 and limit it to the Island
of Maui.  This lists two events (ongoing):

Free Whale Information Station at McGregor Point Lookout 

and 

Annual Festival of Trees at Lahaina Cannery Mall.  

Have a nice vacation and ask the hotel for information about events. 
You may also want to contact:

Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau
2270 Kalakaua Ave. Suite 801
Honolulu, HI 96815

1-800-GOHAWAII  (toll free)
Tel:808-923-1811
Fax:808-924-0290