DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Grocer Whole Foods hosted a reception yesterday for business leaders and other merchants near its future Ward location, scheduled to open early next year. The company also held a private Hawaiian blessing earlier at the construction site for the flagship Hawaii store, above.
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Whole Foods hosts blessing
Descendant families of iwi at the Ward site attended the ceremony
Several descendant families of native Hawaiian remains at the Ward Village Shops redevelopment site attended a Hawaiian blessing yesterday for the new Whole Foods Market store, according to the head of the natural-foods chain.
Prior to a public blessing, at least three to four families attended a private on-site ceremony marking the construction of the 67,000-square-foot store in Ward Centers, which is set to open in January 2009, said Michael Besancon, president of the Southern Pacific region of Whole Foods. He declined to name the families.
"For me it was a very powerful experience," he said, declining to comment further on the sentiment at the private blessing. "My responsibility is working with the descendant families and taking their advice on how to be responsive."
Besancon said that prior to the blessing he attempted to meet with all of the descendants of the 'iwi, or Hawaiian remains, that have been discovered at the Kakaako site. The state's count of remains at the 6-acre property is 64.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Dean Okimoto of Nalo Farms Inc. and Michael Besancon, president of the Southern Pacific region of Whole Foods, right, at the public reception.
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Paulette Kaleikini, a recognized cultural descendant who filed last year a lawsuit against six members of the state's Oahu Island Burial Council who voted to relocate the remains, said she was contacted several times, but declined to meet with Besancon to discuss how Whole Foods could make things culturally pono, or right, with native Hawaiians.
"The pono thing would have been to keep those 'iwi kupuna in place, but it's too late, so how does he expect to make this pono now that the burials have been relocated?" she said. "That is not our cultural way -- I resent them coming across asking how they can make things pono."
The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., acting on behalf of Kaleikini, up until late last year had been trying to stop the further removal of 'iwi at the site, as well as the construction itself, pending resolution of the lawsuit.
However, the state in November gave developer General Growth Properties the green light to proceed with construction on the store site.
General Growth's $150 million plans include a 17-story residential tower, parking garage, the Whole Foods store and retail shops.
Whole Foods plans to hire between 150 and 200 workers for the Ward store in the fall and is continuing efforts to secure local farmers and producers for four Hawaii stores, including locations at Kahala Mall, in Kailua and Kahului on Maui. The company said it also plans to export local products for its mainland stores.