Popular farmers’ market
will hit Kailua on
Thursday nights

THE popular Saturday morning farmers' market at Kapiolani Community College is expanding to Kailua.

It is the latest in a vast sea of open markets for local farmers and other small business owners to peddle their goods to the public, usually at well-below-retail prices.

The Kailua Thursday Night Farmers' Market debuts Sept. 9 and will operate from 5-8 p.m. in the Kailua Town Center parking garage, behind the Longs Drug Store on Kailua Road.

Roy's Restaurant will be the first of a rotating schedule of dinner vendors, similar to the slate of breakfast-bringers who feed hungry shoppers at the year-old Saturday Farmers' Market at KCC.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, a nonprofit organization for the state's agriculture industry, is the driving force behind both markets. The federation's co-sponsor for the Saturday event is the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at KCC, while the Thursday night co-sponsor is Kaneohe Ranch Co.

The weeknight event is a way to "bring the Kailua community together once a week in a fun atmosphere and bring customers in the evening to support Kailua merchants and restaurants," said Mitch D'Olier, Kaneohe Ranch chief executive officer.

In addition to dinner and produce, vendors at the Kailua market will offer items such as taro and sweet potato chips, fruit preserves, salsas, sauces and salad dressings made with Hawaii-grown ingredients, beef and sausage, pastas, baked goods and spice rubs.

Many of the vendors are regulars on the farmers' market circuit, which goes back at least 31 years to the first People's Open Market, sponsored by the City and County of Honolulu.

With 25 locations on Oahu, the markets are overseen by the Department of Parks and Recreation.

"Part of (the open market expansion) is competition, but I think a lot of it is, we're servicing different people at different times," said People's Open Market coordinator Dennis Wee.

The People's Open Market in Kailua, for instance, is 9 to 10 a.m. Thursdays, but now people who have to work during the day will have an opportunity to shop at a farmer's market, Wee said.

Other organizations' markets may not be governed by the same regulations as the city's, giving other vendors opportunities to participate, he said.

People's Open Market vendors' maximum prices are set based on regular City and County market basket surveys and average 35 percent below normal retail, Wee said.

A farmers' market can be a treasure trove of items not found in mainstream grocery stores. Not all vendors participate at each location, though, so if consumers are "looking for something special they can give us a call." Leave a message at 522-7088 in the morning and a supervisor will return the call in the afternoon, Wee said.

The state Department of Agriculture maintains an online list of farmers' markets around the state at www.hawaiiag.org/Markets/marketslist.htm.

Not on the list, as of yesterday, are markets staged by the Fort Street Business Improvement District.

The downtown crowd gets its fix of produce, plants, Pacific handcrafts and jewelry each Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday along Fort Street Mall. The Tuesday and Friday markets kicked off at Wilcox Park a year ago, followed soon after by the Wednesday market at Pauahi Street.

"It's been such a success that it really has exceeded their goals," said spokeswoman Sheri Rolf.

"The people in downtown offices have really appreciated the ability to walk outdoors and buy fruits and vegetables in an upscale environment."