Hawaii’s Back Yard Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi

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Celebrating roots of Maui pineapple

The summer she was 16, Elsie Talon worked as a packer at Maui Pineapple Co.'s cannery in Kahului, earning 50 cents an hour.

Sweet Remembrances What: Maui Pineapple Homecoming & Festival Place: Maui Pineapple Co. Cannery, 120 Kane St., Kahului. Enter from Wakea Avenue, between Kamehameha Avenue and Onehee Street. When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 16 Admission: Free Call: 808-877-3857 E-mail: tgorman@mlpmaui.com Web site: www.mauipineapple.com

In 1959, after graduating from high school, getting married and giving birth to two daughters, she became a full-time MPC employee. Now 72, she ranks among the employees who have been with the company the longest, at 47 years and counting.

Over the years, Talon has held numerous jobs at MPC, from picking pineapple in the fields and feeding covers into the machine that seals cans of packed fruit, to operating the heavy equipment that loads empty cans onto pallets for transport to the cannery and supervising workers as a packing forewoman.

"It's hard work but I enjoy it," Talon says. "I came from a family of 10, and I had to work from the time I was young to help out. I'm used to working hard; I don't think I know how to retire."

She'll be among the dozens of employees who'll welcome some 3,000 visitors to the cannery when the inaugural Maui Pineapple Company Homecoming & Festival takes place there on Sept. 16.

Themed "Honoring our past while looking to our future," the event will celebrate the end of a busy summer season at the only working pineapple cannery in the United States.

MPC traces its roots to 1909, when its predecessor, Keahua Ranch Co., was founded by H.P. Baldwin.

It assumed its current name in 1932 and, two years later, purchased the 7-acre Kahului cannery, including warehouse and operational facilities, from California Packing Corp.

Today, MPC is a subsidiary of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., which owns 28,600 acres on Maui that are dedicated to agriculture, resort operation and the creation and management of balanced communities. ML&P operates Kapalua Resort and cultivates about 6,000 acres of extra-sweet Maui Gold pineapple in Honolua and Haliimaile.

Among the pineapple festival's highlights will be cannery tours not normally open to the public.

Teri Freitas Gorman, ML&P's director of corporate communications, said: "When they were in high school, many Maui residents worked at the cannery during the summer, so they will appreciate being able to make a nostalgic trip back to the site of their very first job.

"Others who raised their families on full-time jobs of growing and processing pineapple will enjoy sharing stories of that experience with their children or grandchildren. Still others will be fascinated by the new technology and all the moving parts and many steps it takes to prepare pineapple for sale in the grocery store."

Tour-goers will get a close look at the cannery's new $20 million automated fruit-packing system that went into service in July.

"It represents the largest investment in Hawaii agriculture in a generation," Gorman said. "The fresh-fruit packing facility boasts high-tech equipment from best-in-breed manufacturers and process software design companies from France, Spain and the mainland. It is unique in this country, and some of the elements have been customized specifically for Maui Pineapple Company's use."

MPC SELLS CANNED and fresh Maui Gold dipped in chocolate, shredded coconut, nuts, candy sprinkles or li hing mui powder; samples will be available at the festival.

Other draws include Memory Lane, a display of photos and artifacts from ML&P's archives documenting field work, cannery operations and life in the multiethnic plantation communities, and a "Talk Story" area where people can sit, relax and chat.

A farmers market will offer Maui-grown food products, primarily produce from Kula.

"Folks can expect fresh lettuce, Kula onions, celery, zucchini, strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, corn and, of course, Maui Gold pineapple," Gorman said. "All proceeds benefit the Maui County Farm Bureau."

Visitors can also browse at the Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Store, stocked with Kapalua logo goods at up to 50 percent off; MPC hats and other merchandise; and festival T-shirts. Also attracting shopaholics will be a Made on Maui booth offering soaps, jewelry, crafts and more from local manufacturers.

Food booths will be peddling beef and pineapple kabobs, teriyaki beef with pineapple, ham-and-pineapple pizza, chicken curry sandwiches with pineapple salsa, pineapple lumpia (the Filipino version of egg rolls), pineapple smoothies, pineapple shave ice, seven-layer pineapple bars and Roselani's Pauwela Sunrise ice cream (orange ice cream with -- you guessed it -- pineapple).

Entertainment will include children's games; appearances by Na Hoku Hanohano award-winning vocalist Raiatea Helm and 87-year-old music legend Aunty Genoa Keawe; and a Keiki SuperChef Contest, a fun "Iron Chef"-style cook-off hosted by Barry Cutler of "Cookin' With Cutty," a 30-minute nationally syndicated Hawaii-based TV show aired on Oceanic Time Warner Cable's Channel OC16.

During the competition, finalists from Hawaii and California will show their culinary skills and nutritional knowledge as they prepare a healthy pineapple recipe.

The two youngsters' presentations will be filmed as an episode of "Cookin' With Cutty" that, in addition to Hawaii, will be broadcast within a few months on the America One Network, available in more than 120 cities nationwide, and Time Warner's Adelphia Network in Southern California and metro Los Angeles.

THE FESTIVAL IDEA was born from a discussion between David Cole, president and CEO of ML&P, and Brian Nishida, president and CEO of MPC, last November.

"They thought it would be fun for former Maui Pineapple Company employees to come back to see how technology was changing the future of pineapple, and we wanted an opportunity to formally thank them for building such a strong foundation for the company," Gorman said. "It dawned on them that over the years several thousand Maui residents had worked for Maui Pine at some point.

In addition to former workers, that prompted us to invite the entire community to our Maui Pineapple Homecoming & Festival."

She notes the festival's theme acknowledges both the important role pineapple has played in Hawaii's history and the opportunities that lie ahead.

"The pineapple may be native to Brazil," Gorman said, "but in the eyes of the world, it will always be a beloved icon of Hawaii."