A wiliwili good time: Festival brings community together to celebrate iconic tree
While the wiliwili may not have been in bloom Saturday, the community was blooming with excitement and cheer at the 11th annual Wiliwili Festival in Waikoloa Village.
Scores of residents and visitors alike ascended on the Waikoloa Dry Forest Preserve for the annual festival celebrating the lowland dry forest and the iconic wiliwili tree, Erythrina sandwicensis. The wiliwili is one of Hawaii’s few endemic deciduous trees and will typically lose their leaves in the summer months, during periods of drought, before flowering in late summer.
Saturday’s free festival, which was held virtually over two days with guided hikes in 2021 amid the now-waning COVID-19 pandemic, returned to a more normal format this year. It featured a host of exhibitors and educational booths, guided hikes, open hiking trails, plant propagation workshops, native plant giveaways, a keiki-friendly scavenger hunt and more at the 287-acre preserve off Waikoloa Road.
Through interactive presentations, and experiential learning at the preserve, the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative hopes to raise awareness about conservation in Hawaii and to inspire the community to get involved with local organizations working to protect and restore Hawaii’s resources.
For many, Saturday was the first festival with in-person events they’ve attended since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.
“I’m so happy,” said Stacey Dorn, after getting a lesson on wiliwili seed germination from Master Gardener Louise Gaston. “I’m very thrilled to be interacting, with live people!”
