Big Isle’s Keaau KEAAU, Hawaii >> By the end of the year, W.H. Shipman Ltd. plans to build a permanent farmers market in the heart of Keaau village south of Hilo, the company announced.
to get permanent
farmers marketThe $250,000 structure
will house 21 vending stallsBy Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondentThe $250,000 structure will house 21 stalls, replacing a temporary, tarpaulin-covered market with 10 stalls. It would also include a small general store and a public restroom building, said Shipman President Bob Saunders.
The present gravel parking lot would be paved, with a grassy area for entertainment between the stalls and the parking.
Brush and weeds under adjoining lychee, avocado, mango, and breadfruit trees would be cleared and turned into a picnic area.
Teresita Stapleton, manager of the present temporary market, said she was "elated" by the news.
"I want to salute W.H Shipman and to thank them," she said.
Since Shipman made the announcement, Stapleton has received at least 20 calls from people wanting booth space, she said.
One of the major vendors in the current market, Pedro Lagutan, said he has received about 10 calls about space, and about five more people currently selling produce at a farmers market in Hilo told him they want to sell in Keaau also.
Owning thousands of acres in and around Keaau, Shipman had to redefine itself following the close of its major source of income, lessee Puna Sugar Co., in the 1980s.
The company first developed a business park about a mile from Keaau and more recently has planned a "Gateway" shopping center about a half-mile from the town. In the meantime, it tore down most of the old, rotting buildings in the heart of Keaau.
Company plans to revitalize the core of Keaau became more difficult when a state highway bypass around the town removed much of its former traffic. With the Gateway center planned at the immediate end of the bypass, and potential shoppers zipping past the village, investors lost interest in old Keaau.
Two things happened to reverse the exodus from the center.One was the election of Mayor Harry Kim, who grew up in a tiny house near Keaau. Kim questioned Shipman's plan to have the county build one of the roads linking Gateway to Keaau. The County Council put the project on hold.
Saunders said Kim also struck a chord with him in a heartfelt conversation about Kim's childhood memories of the village.
The other factor helping Keaau was Saunders' own realization before Kim's election that that village needed something more.
Stapleton and her husband Billie were leasing land from Shipman, growing crops under the name Kipuka Farm, and running a roadside fruit and vegetable stand three miles from Keaau.
In June of last year, Saunders asked them to move into Keaau, thereby creating the core of the present farmers market.
As decrepit as old Keaau buildings were, Shipman took criticism and suffered delays from court challenges when it tore them down in the 1990s.
Some of the old flavor will be reborn in the market building. Saunders credits architect Boone Morrison with designing the general store as the centerpiece of the market to resemble a former bakery in the town.
Even the restroom building design is based on an old store, Saunders said.
As to the success of the undertaking, Stapleton points out that big tour buses already stop at the temporary market.
Saunders and Stapleton are talking about expanding from produce to crafts, which should create more of a draw to the site.
And the price is right. Someone who wants to sell seven days a week will pay $450 for a full-sized booth. But a back-yard grower with a handful of fruit can also rent a quarter of a stall for just one day for $2.50.