Hundreds of residents and visitors from around the world visited the Kona Coffee Living History Farm on Saturday to enjoy activities and entertainment centered on the “Farm-to-Table” theme during the sixth annual Farm Fest Open House celebration. ADVERTISING Hundreds of
Hundreds of residents and visitors from around the world visited the Kona Coffee Living History Farm on Saturday to enjoy activities and entertainment centered on the “Farm-to-Table” theme during the sixth annual Farm Fest Open House celebration.
Every year, Kona Historical Society, a nonprofit organization and Smithsonian Museum affiliate, hosts this free event to give back to the community. The celebration honors Kona’s heritage by offering hands-on activities that share cultural traditions practiced by Kona’s coffee industry and its pioneers. Those activities included coffee picking, gardening, lau hala weaving, Japanese calligraphy, and pan-roasting coffee.
At this year’s celebration, guests enjoyed a cooking demonstration with Chef Sam Choy. Choy pickled vegetables gathered from the Kona Coffee Living History Farm’s vegetable gardens and explored the many fruit trees on the farm to make a refreshing juice. Sandy’s Drive In returned to the farm and served their version of a traditional plantation dish, chicken hekka. Farm Fest also welcomed fellow Kona businesses and organizations to share their locally sourced goods, including Scandinavian Shave Ice, Greenwell Farms, Hawaii Ulu Producers Cooperative, Hawaiian Ola, and Tea and Cake.
The Kona Coffee Living History Farm, homesteaded by Japanese immigrants, reveals the story of Kona’s coffee pioneers in the 1925-45 era. Historical interpreters guided patrons through the kitchen where the smell of steamed rice wafted through the windows of the farmhouse. Meanwhile, at the kuriba (mill) and hoshidana (drying rack), interpreters shared the resourceful ways Kona’s first coffee farmers processed their crops and solved problems with limited supplies in innovative ways.
Guests also had the opportunity to say “Happy Birthday” to the youngest member of the Kona Coffee Living History Farm ohana. Mele, one of two Kona Nightengale Donkeys at the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, turned a year old earlier this year.
Info: Call Kona Historical Society at 323-3222 or visit www.konahistorical.org.
