The U.S. Mint is bidding aloha to its incredibly successful 50 State Quarters Program with a ceremony Monday at noon to introduce the Hawai'i quarter.

Those under the age of 18 who come to the event at Downtown's Bishop Square will get a free commemorative quarter and anyone can exchange $10 for a whole roll of them.

And though the Hawai'i quarter was officially put into circulation Nov. 3, most of the country is still waiting for it to circulate, so Monday's launch gives local collectors and residents a chance to get them early.

Banks across Hawai'i will also have the new quarters available starting at 2 p.m. Monday.

"We've never had a program as successful as this one," said Ed Moy, director of the U.S. Mint, who is in Hawai'i for the ceremonial launch. "Through the life of this program, 34 billion state quarters have been made.

"Of those, half are for everyday use and half are just because collectors wanted them. We estimate there's 147 million people collecting all the state quarters. That's incredible."

Moy said the series has raised $6 billion since its inception in 1999 to help reduce the federal debt.

Moy said the Mint will next year create commemorative coins for the District of Columbia and five U.S. Territories — the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

"This series has also been about boosting state pride and it educates people," Moy said. "The coins help with geography and history."

The quarters were introduced in the order that the states entered the union.

"Hawai'i is the 50th and last," Moy said. "We've had kids all over the country working on their quarter maps since we started this in 1999, just waiting for that last quarter slot to fill in."

Moy said the U.S. Mint developed lesson plans for teachers and parents to coincide with quarter releases. The plans, at www.usmint.gov, have been downloaded more than 3 million times, he said.

Moy will host a forum from 2:30 to 4 p.m. tomorrow at the 'Iolani Palace Archive building to get public feedback on American coins. The Hawai'i quarter will be on display, but none will be handed out or available for purchase.

"All the state coins are beautiful for different reasons," Moy said. "Some people get excited for nature pictures or what shows the nature of the state. The Hawai'i coin is so stately with King Kamehameha on the back. It's not surprising people are looking forward to it."