“This is Galentine’s Day,” said Bethany Coma Sunday at the Alakoko Store on Kress Street, where her sister Abie Koma was working. “We have the treats leftover from Galentine’s Day Saturday where we got together for a little picnic at Kalapaki Beach.”
Coma said Galentine’s Day is something they saw on television some time ago, and started celebrating it on the day before Valentine’s Day, the topic being sparked by the Valentine’s Day theme by Saintly Succulents Kaua‘i, one of two vendors parked outside the Alakoko Store for the plant swap.
“We’ve been doing this for about three Sundays now,” said Saintly Dullaga of Saintly Succulents. “This is part of the Lihu‘e revitalization. Krystl Apeles of Alakoko Store said we have all this space on Sunday, we might as well take advantage of it. I guess this is part of trying to bring life back to the Lihu‘e spaces. We can always use more vendors.”
Dullaga had her collection of succulents dressed for Valentine’s Day presentations, hoping to catch the eye of passers-by, mainly the crowd heading to service at Lihu‘e Christian Church and the early-riser lunch crowd at Hamura Saimin.
The plant-swap sign brought out to the intersection of Kress and Rice streets hoped to attract an even-bigger audience to the event that meets from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
“This is a pop-up,” Dullaga said. “I guess ‘plant swap’ means there’re some plants involved. Look at A Little MacFarm next door. Donya has those planters with some plants. But those planters? She uses concrete to create them. They’re heavy.”
The plants used by Dullaga can be persuaded to get new homes, but MacKnight’s primary line is planter assortments created using concrete and pigments.
“I have some planters created using recycled parts from other planters,” MacKnight said. “I like to propagate plants, and I started to make these planters because I was getting so many plants, I kept having to buy pots. I need to learn how to make legs on these planters instead of just having them flat.”
And, Galentine’s Day?
Cosmopolitan magazine, on its website, claims “it’s the only good fake holiday on the calendar.” According to Urban Dictionary, Galentine’s Day is celebrated on Feb. 13 based on a fictional character, Leslie Knope of “Parks and Recreation,” who, on Feb. 13, gathered a group of her closest gal pals for a brunch of waffles and love.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
