Bill Howes started a people's open market in his half-acre front yard in Pupukea to retain the rural, agricultural lifestyle of the North Shore, with 15 vendors learning how to run their own small businesses. Open-air market
keeps country feel
By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com"We wanted to bring people together ... This is what Hawaii is about, a way of sharing with and strengthening the local community," Howes said.
As more and more vendors brought their home-grown and handmade products to the market, the North Shore Country Market moved to Sunset Beach Park, where it did business twice a month.
The market, now 65 members strong, will celebrate its third anniversary at Kalunawaikaala Stream today, about an eighth of a mile away from the park, between Shark's Cove and Pipeline.
The nonprofit community group exists through grants from the city and other foundations, and works with the city departments of Parks and Recreation and Community Services. The city also granted the 1-acre parcel to the group for five years.
The group cleared away overgrown weeds and brush on the site, erected a thatched-roof halau and installed an irrigation system. The members planted a garden, which is a demonstration model for organic fruits and vegetable growing, along the perimeter of the parcel. Howes, the market's executive director, runs the office in a shipping container on the site.
Workshops and classes on micro-enterprise, gardening, computers, the Internet, marketing, and related topics have been offered or are scheduled for the future.
The market was an outgrowth of a political/environmental movement, the Save Sunset Beach Coalition, which had focused on fighting a large development project coming into the area. Howes said he was one of the handful of people who started the coalition in 1994.
But at the same time, they saw the importance of doing "something positive, too," and formed the group. Never did he think his front-yard venture would turn into a weekly event that attracts a couple of hundred people every Saturday.
In the process, the group learned the hard way to "be patient with our government ... It was an ongoing learning process for a grass-roots movement" that started out just "wanting to get a permit" from the city to operate at Sunset Beach Park.
It was tough emotionally to jump through hoops of red tape for several years, but having a "dream become a reality" has been worth it, he said. While other community ventures have failed, the market group has succeeded this long because he and others "were willing to work for free for a long time," said Howes.
He had to go back to the drawing board as an architectural draftsman to support his family.
"I worked for free (on the market) for six years," he said.
Now he and a handful of staff are paid by grant money.
The market has received support from and is working in partnership with a long list of groups and agencies.
Robert Leinau, a North Shore Neighborhood Board member who shops at the market regularly, said, "I don't know anywhere else I can get lilikoi mochi that Karen Howes (Bill's wife) makes -- it's to die for!"
Having the market for the community "completes the circle on ag land; it's a good outlet for all the stuff grown locally," including products from all over the state.
"People feel good about taking (things) down there ... and it's bonding the community," Leinau added.
Debora Driscoll and her husband, Jerry, make Hawaiian Bath & Body soaps, made from organically grown local products.
The soaps have been sold at the market for about five years and at 20 other stores statewide.
Trying to "keep it in the community," Driscoll uses local ingredients such as "tangerine peels from my neighbor's yard and Waiahole Valley Chinese ginger" in some of her soaps, acting on the slogan, "Buy Hawaii!"
Driscoll said she loves interacting with other vendors and meeting people in the community. Her soap has its own following due to word of mouth from satisfied customers who tell their friends about it. She also likes being able to get "great produce" and buy handmade "quality products from someone I know" for gifts at the market.
Dave Delventhal says the market is "a great tool to interact with the community" and get personal feedback on his salad products, sold under the brand name "Pupukea Gardens."
"If there is any problem, I can take care of it right away. If the customer is extremely satisfied, I hear about it. It's a real benefit in trying to keep the quality up," said Delventhal, who has been selling at the market for four years.
