KILAUEA — The much-anticipated Kilauea miniature golf course has yet to open, but it’s already bringing education and enjoyment to island children. The management team at the Anaina Hou project, where KPG is located, has been teaching young students about
KILAUEA — The much-anticipated Kilauea miniature golf course has yet to open, but it’s already bringing education and enjoyment to island children.
The management team at the Anaina Hou project, where KPG is located, has been teaching young students about native plants at the miniature golf course. The children learn by listening and getting their hands dirty, planting the same plants they have just been taught about.
“It helps to teach them where they’re from and what they can still do today,” said Kilauea teacher Heather Devin, explaining that the children learn about Hawaiian history, plus how to continue local tradition.
Devin said when the children first learned they were invited to the miniature golf course, they were very excited.
“But of course the first thing they said was, ‘Oh, we get to play miniature golf?’” said Devin, laughing.
Bino Castilo, manager at the Anaina Hou botanical garden, said the program fits into the children’s curriculum, plus teaches them how important those plants are. The children also learn about organic gardening.
Two groups of 20 fourth-graders from Kilauea School recently took a field trip to the golf course. A couple weeks earlier it was the fourth-graders from Kaua‘i Pacific School who got their hands in the dirt.
Castilo said he was trying to get the children to have a hand in planting the gardens “so they feel as part of the community.”
The students listened attentively to Castilo as he, under a misty rain, explained to them which roles certain plants held in ancient Hawai‘i.
As Castilo carefully placed a sweet potato plant on the ground, the children had their eyes glued on every move he made.
“This is their final home, so we need to put them in very well,” he told the children.
KPG manager Cherie Grousset said when completed, the miniature golf course will have waterfalls, ponds, hazards, bridges and many other features.
“Miniature golf courses have a reputation to be silly, carnival-like,” Grousset said. “This one is not going to be like that. It’s going to be educational as well as fun.”
Grousset said as the course progresses, it tells the history of Hawai‘i’s native flora, beginning with plants that were here before the Polynesians arrived almost two centuries ago.
As players advance through the course, plaques will explain each era in Hawai‘i, plus identify the plants. There will be a section with canoe plants, or plants that arrived here with the Polynesians. There’s also going to be a plantation-style section.
“The very ending is an Asian-Japanese garden. It’s going to be beautiful,” Grousset said.
The miniature golf course weaves throughout the botanical gardens, which last week had a lot of exposed dirt and small plants and saplings. Grousset said when the plants grow and fill up the space, the place will be gorgeous. “Three months from now, come back,” she said.
Michael Kaplan, Anaina Hou project manager, said the planting is a “little part of what we’re trying to do here, get the community involved.”
Anaina Hou is meant, as its Hawaiian name suggests, to be a new gathering place for the community. The entire project is planned to include the miniature golf course, a park-and-ride facility for Kaua‘i Bus users, an enclosed theater, an amphitheater, a botanical garden with native plants, a concession stand, a conference room, a commercial kitchen for local farmers, and possibly a few more amenities.
Bill and Joan Porter in 2006 bought the roughly 15-acre property, which was zoned industrial. The previous owners had planned to build a mall there but when the Porters purchased the property they listened to community concerns and helped foster the idea of the miniature golf course and the other ventures.
Some residents of the neighboring Kalihiwai Ridge, however, fearing that the amphitheater will bring nuisance to their homes, have filed an intervention to stop the permitting process. The case is scheduled to go to a contested hearing on Jan. 11 before the county Planning Commission.
Kaplan said the golf course will open in mid-December. They haven’t set a price for the rounds yet, but there will be a discounted kama‘aina rate for those with a valid Hawai‘i ID.
The place is initially planned to be open Tuesdays through Sundays, Kaplan said.
Go to www.anainahou.com for more information.
