LIHUE — Stephen Fujii of Lihue thought he was at a dog show Friday at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall. “When I parked, I saw all these dogs,” Fujii said. “I didn’t know anything about a dog show. I
LIHUE — Stephen Fujii of Lihue thought he was at a dog show Friday at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall.
“When I parked, I saw all these dogs,” Fujii said. “I didn’t know anything about a dog show. I thought I was going to a trade show.”
Fujii discovered the dogs and their owners were part of the Dog Fashion Show coordinated by Jan Woo of Barkaroo Bakery as part of the Kauai Made-Kauai Grown trade show coordinated by the county’s Office of Economic Development.
Hundreds of people flowed through the rows of 40 vendors offering products ranging from produce, live betta fish and bows created from Kauai bamboo and embelished with exotic woods by bowyer Mitch Sowl.
“We’re trying,” said Melissia Mae Sugai of the Kauai Made office. “We are fortunate the County Council appropriated funds so we could market the event more aggressively.”
Susan Corrado of New Jersey was one of the shoppers.
“I work at a gallery which features jewelry, so I thought I’d like to see what is available,” she said.
Howard and Maureen Gregg of Wailua were able to have a Patrice Pendarvis painting autographed by the artist.
“I’m working on an order I just received,” Pendarvis said. “This is a really good show with a lot of traffic.”
Liz Hahn of Kauai Bettas agreed, noting that she had sold several fish within an hour of the show opening, and had several more sold after the show opened to the general public with the dog fashion show.
Other vendors, including the Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Salt, used the opportunity to unveil new products for testing prior to the upcoming holiday shopping season.
“We have an all-natural li hing mui powder,” said Laura Cristobal Andersland. “We’re offering taste testing today. It should be ready for packaging in the very near future.”
