KOLOA — A shopper was thrilled with her pahu purchase from woodcarver Tepairu Manea, and another individual pondered the proper English (she described it as “American”) way of saying her name while creating a miniature kahili.
“This was a really good buy,” the pahu shopper said. “You’d spend more than a thousand dollars for one like this at the Merrie Monarch Festival.”
Miniature kahili student Laura van Geel-Hoover struggled with her name while taping down layers of colored goose feathers for form the kahili.
“It’s ‘Laura,’” she said. “My American name is ‘Hoover,’ and my Dutch name is ‘v-a-n Geel’ with a lower case ‘v.’ My American name is ‘van Geel-Hoover,’ although in Europe, it’s the other way around, ‘Hoover-van Geel.’”
Things did not have to be complicated.
“We’re at the Koloa Neighborhood Center,” said Dr. Kaeo Bradford, who spearheaded the series of workshops featuring cultural practitioners from a wide range of subjects ranging from lomi lomi to woodcarving, and a contemporary adaptation of konane and its related accessories. “This is right across the street from where the Koloa Plantation Days will do its formal opening ceremonies.”
The Hawaiian Sense of Place workshops will take place on July 28 when the vendors set up starting at 8 a.m. at Koloa Neighborhood Center where the ‘ukulele classes will be relegated to the old courtroom.
“This is on a first-come-first-serve basis,” Bradford said. “You can come as early as when we’re setting up. The doors open from 9 a.m., and the first workshops should start at 10 a.m.”
The Koloa Plantation Days celebration, now celebrating its 37th year, has more than 20 events “Uniting Cultures as One,” said event coordinator Melissa McFerrin-Warrack.
“We have two new events — the Hawaiian Sense of Place, and the Paniolo Backyard BBQ — on Friday, and they both mark the start of the week-long celebrations across our Koloa community and made possible by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority Community Enrichment Program,” McFerrin-Warrack said.
“As the Hawaiian Sense of Place ends, Kumu Leina‘ala Pavao Jardin and Dr. Keao NeSmith will do the traditional Hawaiian blessing across the street at the Koloa Village shopping center.
The blessing will be followed by the Paniolo Backyard BBQ event with live music, food for purchase, country line dancing, beer gardens, local products, and one-night-specials.”
On Saturday and Sunday, the Hapa Trail Walk with the Koloa Community Association, Keiki Fishing at Waita with ATV Kaua‘i fill the Saturday calendar.
The Keiki Mini Golf event at the Lawai Beach Resort, and the Koloa Plantation Days Sugar Exhibit Opening with the Kaua‘i Historical Society opening at Po‘ipu Shopping Village are things to do on Sunday.
For a full listing of plantation days events, visit www.koloaplantationdays.com.
