PUHI — “We served over 2,000 meals,” Kaua‘i Community College Chancellor Peggy Cha said as she watched the cleanup operations begin following the Annual American Culinary Federation’s brunch at the Puhi campus yesterday. Cha, who was filling in some of
PUHI — “We served over 2,000 meals,” Kaua‘i Community College Chancellor Peggy Cha said as she watched the cleanup operations begin following the Annual American Culinary Federation’s brunch at the Puhi campus yesterday.
Cha, who was filling in some of the short spots, spent the entire morning distributing plates to the steady stream of patrons who took in the annual event.
“We ran out of wristbands,” Cha explained. “And, we had 2,000 of them printed, so we know we served over 2,000 meals. When we ran out of the wristbands, we went back to the old hand-stamp so servers could keep track of their servings.”
Brian Yamamoto, one of the coordinators for the cultural student exchange, had two of his house guests in tow, explaining, “Peggy always helps out where they’re short.”
KCC culinary instructor Billy Gibson, in announcing their culinary awards, finished by telling the capacity crowd in the big tent, “We’ll serve another 2,000 meals again (next year).”
Gibson was one of the scholarship presenters, this year’s offering to the college’s culinary-arts program augmented by the addition of what he said will hopefully be a regular program as officials with the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation and Kauai Coffee made four presentations to culinary-arts students.
This was in addition to the presentations made by Dan Spragg of the Rotary Club of Kapaa, who was joined by the club’s president Wade Lord in making the scholarship presentations to about 16 culinary-arts students. Lord explained that the scholarships are made possible through the success of the club’s “Taste of Hawaii” event, this year’s edition to take place on June 5 at the Smith’s Tropical Paradise.
The popular Tech Fair that was inaugurated at last year’s event was again a draw, Shirley Tani of the KCC Foundation noting that one of the features was the offering of scholarships to students.
But, younger students were enthralled by the wide variety of high-technology, interactive displays that greeted them inside the KCC Electronics and Technology Building.
One of these was a booth hosted by the Kauai Economic Development Board featuring a “Float Da Boat” activity where people would load a tinfoil boat with marbles to see just how many marbles it would take before the boat finally sank.
Koral Linser, 10, topped all comers just before the fair closed, loading a total of 179 marbles, surpassing an earlier total that stood at about 150 marbles.
Participating vendors offered enticing displays that demonstrated the opportunities in the high-tech field that await young people contemplating careers in the growing field.
“This is a scientist-finding ball,” one vendor told twins Cassy and Alex Neri, who were fascinated by a laser ball on display in a darkened corner. “Put your hands on it,” the vendor encouraged. “If it moves, that means you can probably be a scientist.”
New to this year’s brunch was the addition of the Building and Carpentry Expo, which featured a variety of vendors beneath a big tent anchored by the framework of a house created by the carpentry students at the college. Vendors in this phase answered questions as well as hosted informative displays on career opportunities that are available in the building and trades arena.
Another new arena was the addition of new cars coordinated by leaders in the college’s automotive program and featuring some exotic new models from Kuhio Motors and King Auto Center.
These cars and trucks drew the attention of everyone who just had to get closer looks following their fill of the buffet, one automotive instructor joking, “They (the auto dealers) should give the commission to the automotive department.”
Diners were also treated to a steady stream of entertainment, including Tahitian dancers, hula dancers, and local entertainers, while they dined or browsed through the KCC used-book sale that was taking place in the backstage are of the KCC Performing Arts Center.
It was here that Kauai Coffee Marketing Supervisor Martin Amaro spent the greater part of the morning, monitoring the percolators that kept spewing forth gallons of the familiar morning beverage.
“I was down here most of the time,” he said. “And, when I finally was able to get outside, Wow! That line (of diners waiting to get inside) was long!”
But, the big draw was still the endless supply of brunch offerings put together by the college’s culinary-arts students, as well as chefs from the ACF program.
Bill Kamps of Seattle, Wash., a first-timer to the brunch, said, “This is amazing how you can get so many people together in just one place. This was great.”
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
