• Tours of Coco Palms • Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge accepting applications for grants • The Hyatt and Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course to serve as hosts for Paradise Events • Organic gardening training in Moloa‘a • SBA
• Tours of Coco Palms
• Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge accepting applications for grants
• The Hyatt and Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course to serve as hosts for Paradise Events
• Organic gardening training in Moloa‘a
• SBA Seek
Tours of Coco Palms
Hawai‘i Movie Tours and Coco Palms Ventures will begin offering free guided tours of limited areas of the grounds of the Coco Palms Resort for full time Kaua‘i residents. The tours will be offered on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month on a first come, first served basis. People are encouraged to make reservations early as seating is limited.
Tour times are 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m.
Hawai‘i state ID will be required. Reservations will be necessary. Residents should call Hawai‘i Movie Tours at 822-1192 to make the reservations. We are located on the south side of Otsuka’s Furniture on Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a. Guests should check in to our office and will be shuttled to the Coco Palms in a Movie Tours vehicle. We ask that guests check-in 15 minutes prior to their tour time.
Guests will be required to sign a liability waiver. Parents will be required to sign for their minor children. Seats are limited to 15 people per tour.
Recently, the grove has been mowed and a limited amount of trees trimmed. Guests will be taken into the part of the grove where the trees have been trimmed.
The owners look forward to allowing residents into the grounds on these free tours.
Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge accepting applications for grants
Young Brothers, Limited and Hawaiian Tug & Barge are now accepting grant applications for their Community Gift Giving Program for non-profit community organizations on Kaua‘i. The program will award grants of up to $3,000 per organization.
HTB/YB established the Community Gift Giving Program in 2001 to provide recognition and support to charitable community organizations on each island. From inception, HTB/YB’s gift program contributed more than $640,000 to 583 non-profit organizations throughout the State; $162,650 went to 151 Kaua‘i organizations.
The grant applications are reviewed by the Kaua‘i County Community Advisory Board, whose members are Wanda Shibata (chairperson), Jim McDowall, Eldean Scott and Millie Wellington.
Application forms and information are available at www.youngbrothershawaii.com or at the HTB/YB office on Kaua‘i at 3020 Wa‘apa Road in Nawiliwili. The deadline for applications is 4 p.m., October 30 or postmarked by that date. Applications received by this deadline will be reviewed in November. Completed applications may be faxed to 246-1021 or dropped off at the HTB/YB Kaua‘i office.
For more information, please call Kaua‘i Manager Wendell Kam at 245-4051.
The Hyatt and Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course to serve as hosts for Paradise Events
Paradise Events, Inc., the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort, and Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course have agreed to a Strategic Partnership to host Paradise Events beginning in 2010.
Paradise Events, Inc. manages Events in Hawaii for the supporters of major Universities throughout the U.S., and is sponsored by Adidas, TaylorMade, and Hawaiian Airlines. Each Event week features a pairing of Universities where a traditional rivalry exists for supporters to enjoy a complimentary golf and tennis tournament, free gifts & prizes, hosted receptions, special room rates at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort, and discounted airfares on Hawaiian Airlines. The Event schedule for the first quarter of 2010 will include the major Universities in Washington, Oregon, and California.
For more information about Paradise Events, Inc., visit www.paradiseevents.net or call 1-877-775-3730. For information about the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course, visit www.grandhyattkauai.com or call 1-800-742-2353.
Organic gardening training in Moloa‘a
In response to the increasing popularity of learning to grow food, the Food Industry Career Pathways Program at Kaua‘i Community College is promoting training programs in the basic skills of gardening. These programs are designed for individuals interested in improving the productivity of their own family garden or for groups interested in developing community gardens.
A network of instructional sites is being developed in four major districts of Kauai. The network is designed to offer training and technical assistance at locations convenient to residents in these districts. The major goal is to increase the island’s level of food self-sufficiency as a response to rising food costs, looming shortages and increasing costs of transportation.
One of these programs will be offered in the Moloa‘a district of Kaua‘i on an active organic farm managed by Scott Pomeroy. The 10-session training will be held on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. beginning October 10 and ending December 12. Pomeroy will serve as the principal instructor and will be assisted by April Courture. They both are long-time Kaua‘i residents who have practiced organic farming successfully in various island locations.
Graduates of this program may be considered for internships on one of the companion farm sites in that region where they will learn the steps involved in developing financially successful horticultural enterprises.
Persons interested in applying for admission to this introductory program should contact Glenn Hontz at Kaua‘i Community College at 246-4859 or via e-mail at hontz@hawaii.edu. Tuition is $120. Enrollment will be limited to 20 students. Scholarship assistance will be available to qualified students.
SBA Seeks the Best Businesses for 2010
The U.S. Small Business Administration has opened nominations for the prestigious SBA Small Business Awards for 2010. As part of the annual celebration of National Small Business Week, SBA recognizes outstanding small business owners, entrepreneurs and advocates for their contribution to the economic vitality of the State and the Nation. The SBA honors continue to be one of the most competitive, comprehensive and visible small business awards in the state.
For printed nomination forms or more information, call Jane Sawyer at 808-541-2990, ext. 205, or send an e-mail request to jane.sawyer@sba.gov . The nomination forms are also available on the Hawai‘i Small Business Development Center Network Web site at www.hawaii-sbdc.org. This year the deadline to submit the completed nomination forms will be Monday, November 16 at the Hawai‘i District Office at 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 2-235, in Honolulu.
Hawai‘i Seed Crop Industry reports
The seed industry’s significant contributions to the state’s economy were confirmed by two recent economic reports issued by the Hawai‘i Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service and well-known Hawai‘i economist Dr. Leroy Laney.
In its Aug. 31 report, “Hawaii Seed Crops,” the NASS estimates the value of Hawaii’s seed industry for the 2008/2009 season was a “record high” of $176.6 million. Seed corn accounts for $169.3 million, or 96 percent, of the total value. According to the NASS, acreage devoted to seed crops will increase 12 percent from the previous growing season to a record of 5,930 acres.
The economic impact of the seed crop industry is also being felt on the county level. In his Aug. 25 Economic Forecast for Kauai, Laney describes the activities of the seed industry as “a major stabilizing influence” for the island’s West side. Four major seed companies currently have operations on the Garden Isle; a fifth company is in the process of relocating to the island.
Hawaii seed companies have operations on four islands — O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i, and Maui — and employ more than 1,800 residents. Fifteen percent of these jobs are on the neighbor islands and in the areas of high-tech science and research.
Laney’s analysis of economic variables on Kauai also details how the operations of major seed research entities could restore ag jobs that were previously in sugar. An earlier economic impact study commissioned by Hawai‘i Farm Bureau Federation showed that seed crops have become the largest agricultural commodity in the state, exceeding the value of both sugar and pineapple by 180 percent and 90 percent, respectively.
Hawaii’s seed crop industry is represented by five companies that collectively generate $13.8 million per year in tax revenues and are increasing in economic value at 14.2 percent annually, according to the Farm Bureau report.
