POIPU — “Ex-sa-ma-citing” was the only word Annette Hashimoto could think of to describe the craft fair. Hashimoto of Kaila Kauai, was one of 25 vendors participating in the Beach House Restaurant’s first craft fair with proceeds to benefit the
POIPU — “Ex-sa-ma-citing” was the only word Annette Hashimoto could think of to describe the craft fair.
Hashimoto of Kaila Kauai, was one of 25 vendors participating in the Beach House Restaurant’s first craft fair with proceeds to benefit the three public high schools on Kauai.
“This is a real family affair,” Hashimoto said. “Tayni, one of my daughters is here selling; the sign, which is new, was designed by my son Cody of Honolulu and ‘Kaila Kauai’ is named after our granddaughter who is one month old.”
Hashimoto was offering a line of hand-sewn local fashion while Tayni supplemented the sewn fashions with hand-painted trucker caps.
“If we had 25 more spots, we would have filled them all,” said Edwin Vea of the Beach House, the fair coordinator. “We originally was going to cut off at 20 vendors, but was able to squeeze in five additional vendors. We had so many phone calls, we could have had more, if we had the space.”
Karin Panui of Mailelani, with a line of handsewn bags, said the success of the fair was due to Vea’s hard work.
“He might not have a bag in his hand today, but look at him,” Panui said. “He’s got Beach House lunch and dinner menus and watch how he greets each of the people arriving.”
Between customers, Vea mingled through the vendors, who wound around the restaurant’s beachfront yard and through the back portion of the restaurant.
Panui said when she checked with the Beach House people, they said they sold more lunch orders than they’ve had since starting to offer lunch.
Bob Green is a wood turner from Hallsville, Mo., stopping to chat with Niles and Aileen Kageyama’s booth where Niles had an assortment of wood craft items while Aileen vended Japanese style block prints.
“Coming to this craft fair is exciting,” said Sandy Webster, who along with Cheryl Bush, formed West Side Lampwork.“We’ve been doing this online for about three years, but coming to this fair is really exciting.”
The pair offered glass toppers, an interchangeable glass piece, which could be used in various jewelry pieces simply by unscrewing it from one mount and using it in another.
Naea Oda, a student at Kapaa High School, was showing off her piece at her dad’s photography booth.
“She just got a brand new camera and this is one of the first pieces she got,” father Kerry Oda said of Naea’s explosive wave at sunset.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
