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Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Monday, August 21, 2000

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Reminder why we’re
lucky to live in Hawaii

YESTERDAY it was hot and muggy and there was no parking at the beach. Ha-rumph. What's so great about living in paradise if you can't enjoy it as much as the tourists?

Perturbed by the humidity, and provoked by hometown curiosity, I dragged the 15-year-old kiddo (brooding about the start of school this week) to the fifth annual Made In Hawaii Festival at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.

We paid our two bucks apiece and sidled through the turnstiles. Whoosh! Our immediate reward was a gratifying blast of air-conditioning. Mahalo, co-sponsors First Hawaiian Bank and Hawaii Food Industry Association!

Feeling a little less cranky, we meandered around the nearly 300 booths featuring all kinds of island-made food products, crafts and clothes. We took the time to:

Giggle at the cute or funny-sounding names of businesses like Bad Ash Pottery, Clayzee Creations Too, Moved to Maui and Sew Sassy.

Marvel at unique yummies including Kauai Tropical Fudge, Maui Brand Sugar, beer from Keoki Brewing Co. in Lihue, and Honeydew Melon and Hawaiian Vanilla Bean ice cream from Meadow Gold.

Wonder whether to buy mainland Christmas gifts now -- mango- and coconut-scented soaps, Hawaiian sachets, tapa-looking baby quilts -- and wrap them all up in Plantation Paper Co. products.

Ogle the chocolate bars packaged like personalized Hawaii license plates and surfboards from Sweet Aloha Chocolates on Mokauea Street. These would make nifty guest favors at birthday parties and weddings.

Guffaw at the comic routine of the politically incorrect but ethnically hysterical Frank DeLima.

Yearn for a dog so we could treat it to mochiko chicken cookies and carob chip pretzels from Happy Snacks in Wahiawa.

Examine the Red Dirt Hawaii shirts dyed "naturally with 100 percent pure Hawaiian Red Dirt which has been blessed according to Hawaiian tradition and is believed to bring good luck."

Stare open-mouthed at the blown-glass Christmas decorations from Ornaments to Remember in Koloa -- a $20 rubber slipper, $31 lei-bedecked hula maiden, and the $25 Hawaiian Santa that 15-year-old kiddo declares she simply must have.

Admire ceramicist Kyle Ino's ikebana vases and Carol Sakai's polymer-clay clocks with faces decorated by Japanese kanji and Hawaiian petroglyphs.

Bond with fellow residents, since 99 percent of those in attendance seemed to be locals reveling in this once-a-year celebration of local products and pride.

ON exiting the Made In Hawaii Festival, the kiddo and I were smiling. Despite the merciful absence of a $25 blown-glass Hawaiian Santa ornament in our stash, we did help out the local economy.

We bought a pencil holder and coin purse stitched from Hawaiian cloth, macadamia-nut and taro lavosh from Kanemitsu Bakery in Kaunakakai, and a $1 jar of pineapple papaya coconut jam from Hawaiian Kukui. One dollar!

Most of all, we cradled a newfound respect and joy for things created and cultivated in these islands.

Darn it, must we wait a whole year for the sixth annual Made In Hawaii Festival to come around? Ha-rumph.

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Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.