Patrons brave rain for opening

PUHI — When the Kaua‘i Community Market opens next Saturday, there will be three new vendors, said Melissa McFerrin, Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau executive administrator.

“The phone has been busy the past few days and some of the vendors just couldn’t make it until next week,” she said, pleased with the turnout of more than two dozen vendors at the market’s debut this weekend.

The Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau manages the market and Kaua‘i Community College hosts it on the campus in Puhi.

Despite a constant rain that blanketed the front parking lot, customers braved the elements with their umbrellas and rain jackets to take advantage of the offerings.

The market is based on a farm-to-table model that has been successful at Kapiolani Community College on O‘ahu and other Farm Bureau markets around the state, according to a Farm Bureau press release.

“The goal is to start small but high quality, so we can support the farmers to grow their businesses and create more opportunities for new products,” said Roy Oyama, a local farmer and president of the Farm Bureau. “This model has worked well and been tested on other islands and we look forward to bringing its benefits to Kaua‘i.”

Expanding on the produce-only offerings at the county’s Sunshine Markets network, the Kaua‘i Community Market features a wide variety of locally grown foods, culinary treats, value-added products, agricultural and culinary demonstrations, events and information from Kaua‘i agricultural nonprofits and school programs.

“KCC is the place where we are teaching others how to grow their own food and inspiring them to create a plan for developing a unique business out of what is grown fresh in a garden,” said Helen Cox, the KCC chancellor who abandoned her umbrella as the rain continued to fall. “This is also a place where we are promoting a lifestyle that is sustainable — where growing our own food is a way of life. We support agriculture as an income-bearing industry for Kaua‘i as well as members of the community who love to garden and want to grow their own food.”

Chucky Boy Chock was busy trying to juggle between keeping his wok of oil protected from the falling rain and frying pieces of green tomato, zucchini and pineapple, the aroma of warm food beckoning soggy people.

“What makes this market unique is that it brings all the pieces together, from seed to table, to support buying and eating local,” McFerrin said. “There has been such a strong public interest in supporting agriculture and this is one of the many ways we can do this as a community.”

Sandy Poehler of The Right Slice reserved a space so she could make friends with other farmers. On her placard, she listed a variety of produce and goods she was shopping for to be used in her pie bakery that is operating out of a space in the Hanapepe Cafe.

“We’ll be back with pies, Saturday,” she said.

McFerrin said the market plans to feature a variety of educational activities by KCC, the University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, culinary demonstrations by local chefs and other programs highlighting how to grow and prepare locally grown products.

Some of these topics include growing kalo, sustainable agriculture, Hawaiian healing and growing native plants, she said.

The market is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the style of the market is a gathering place where shoppers can shop for a variety of farm-based products and talk story with local farmers, learn different ways to cook and raise local produce, and visit with friends over breakfast or lunch, and participate in demonstrations and educational programs while supporting Kaua‘i agriculture.

Kaua‘i Community Market applications are open to farmers, value-added product producers and caterers using Farm Fresh ingredients, agricultural commodity groups and nonprofit organizations and educational programs with a focus on agriculture.

For more information, contact McFerrin at kcfb@hawaiiantel.net or call 337-9944.