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Huge Blaisdell Shoppers searched for the perfect Christmas gifts at the mega-craft fair at the Neal Blaisdell exhibition hall this weekend.
Center craft fair
is great success
with shoppers
'I shop everywhere,
but I think I like this the
best,' says a Kahala womanBy Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin"I shop everywhere, but I think I like this the best," said Lana Ngo of Kahala, who found eight hand-painted and etched calabash bowls. "They're really nice gifts for people on the mainland," Ngo said. "It's art from Hawaii and it's handmade."
She and thousands of others were at the Islandwide Crafts and Food Expo yesterday, including visitors to Hawaii.
Pat Irish from Virginia bought three hand-carved goose egg ornaments from Marie Kunimura, including one with a dolphin design. Irish was pleased to find unusual and unique gifts made in Hawaii for friends back home.
Kunimura introduced the eggs this year and added them to the handmade dolls she has been selling at craft fairs for 22 years. She took a two-day egg-carving course in Las Vegas this year after seeing a woman on television creating the intricate, filigree designs in duck, goose and ostrich eggs.
"I just fell in love with the filigree effect," Kunimura said. Light filtered through the lacy flower design of a goose egg she held over a Christmas tree light.
On some of the higher-ticket items, some craftsmen kept their prices down.
William Mahoni, a New Zealand Maori, said he sold quite a few hand-carved Polynesian spears and daggers with shark's teeth at $200 to $300 yesterday.
"Anywhere else, they're $400 to $500 and up," Mahoni said. His koa and ironwood pieces are mostly Hawaiian, but he has a few Maori and Marquesan-style items.
"It's a dying art people are trying to revive," Mahoni said.
He spends the whole year preparing items for the expo. He also creates large sculptures for the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Blackford Tangi Tully offers koa, mahogany and mango ukuleles, one whose body is smaller than his palm. He said he reduces his prices at Christmastime, with the cost of his standard koa ukulele falling to $160 from $229.
Some shoppers were hunting for specialty food items. One woman bought 12 jars of lilikoi cream cheese spread made by Island Preserves.
Nadine Viquelia of Ewa Beach carried a box of All Butter Dreams. "People come in specially to get these cookies," she said.
Audrey Miyahira, who bakes the cookies, said the Health Department does not allow her to use a stick of margarine, so her cookies are all butter. The chocolate chip, shortbread and cornflake cookies are her best sellers.
There were some items people picked up but did not rush to buy.
Like Chuck the Critterman's mice, centipedes and cockroaches in resin.
Or snowman poop. Noelani Pearson, 10, of Kaneohe showed her mom the $1 bag of what was actually miniature marshmallows and got a good laugh.
But Pearson scored when she found Hawaiian print cosmetic bags for her friend and herself. And mom Ann Pearson found Hawaii nostalgia T-shirts with the Rainbow Drive-In and the old stadium designs for dad.
Not everyone at the expo was an enthusiastic shopper, however.
Allen Woo of Hawaii Kai tagged along with girlfriend Lauren Okura of Aiea but could not find a single thing to buy.
"This is the first craft fair I've been to," Woo said. "It's kind of big, and you don't know what to buy because there's too much selection."