Farm Fair prepares for Thursday opening

LIHUE — Kalei Balanon said she’ll be taking applications from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily until the Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair opens on Thursday.

“I’ll even be here on Sunday,” Balanon said. “This is a very good opportunity for some short-term employment. Applicants just need to be 18 years or older.”

Balanon said applicants should expect to work between Thursday and Aug. 26. She also said there is some flexibility in scheduling,

Jerry Ornellas, president of the Kauai County Farm Bureau, said progress on the setup for the fair, which opens Thursday, is ahead of schedule this year.

“For a change, everything is moving along,” Ornellas said. “Almost all of the containers are unloaded, the big tents have gone up and the electrical work is starting.”

The Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair is scheduled to open Thursday evening and run through Sunday at Vidinha Stadium.

Iris Furumoto was one of the applicants Friday, noting this is the fourth year she’s going to be working the fair.

Deneen Macadangdang said she read about the employment opportunity in the newspaper and after talking to some of her co-workers, decided she would like to try working at the fair.

“This is my first time,” she told Balanon. “But after talking with my co-workers who worked here before, they all said it was pretty good and they had fun, so I thought I would try it out this year.”

Johnny Gordines of the Tropical Fruit and Flower Growers Association had his hands full of markers for installations, which needed to be completed.

“I can’t harvest any of my flowers right now,” he said. “It’s just too hot, so I can get in some work for the fair.”

Gordines and his crew will be coordinating the floral demonstrations and floral arrangement contests at the fair.

Check out the farm fair special section in the Sunday issue of The Garden Island for more information.

• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.