POIPU — Pillare Mukai, assistant property manager at The Shops at Kukuiula, quizzically looked at the antique typewriter on a table in the office Wednesday afternoon.
Tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap — she tentatively placed her fingers on the weathered keys and gingerly worked through the practice of typing.
“This is definitely not like the computer keyboard,” Mukai said. “It’s not electric.”
The typewriter is a reminder of days long past from A&B Hawaii and will be part of the historic sugar exhibit that will take place at The Shops at Kukuiula during the 34th annual Koloa Plantation Days that opens with a rodeo Friday, July 19, at CJM Country Stables in Poipu.
“We are excited to celebrate Kauai’s history through the annual Koloa Plantation Days festivities,” said Stacie Chiba-Miguel, general manager of The Shops at Kukuiula.
Sharleen Andrade Balmores is a local vendor at the weekly Kauai Culinary Market, a partnership with the Kauai County Farm Bureau and The Shops at Kukuiula that runs on Wednesdays at the shops from 3:30 to 6 p.m.
Andrade Balmores, a fifth-generation rancher’s daughter of a paniolo family, ladled helpings of ice to cool her offerings of meat being displayed in an old, porcelain-clad pan Wednesday afternoon.
“They used to bathe my dad in this pan when he was a baby,” Andrade Balmores said. “I like old things like this. Whenever I find ‘em, I try to keep.”
More details of plantation-era life will be portrayed by master storyteller Kathy “Tita” Collins, who returns to the shops’ Palm Court Monday, July 22, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., coinciding with the opening of the historic sugar exhibit that will, in addition to the A&B Hawaii artifact, feature portraits of plantation life by local photographer Tim De La Vega, with a special tribute to the late Carol Ann Davis.
The collections from the local photographers will be joined by a century of archival images courtesy of Grove Farm Museum, along with artifacts from plantation camp life. Viewing can be done daily from 5 to 9 p.m. through Friday, July 26, next to Skyline Eco Adventures.
Well-versed storyteller in English, Hawaiian and Hawaiian Pidgin English, Collins will treat guests to an evening of refreshments under the stars while hearing the narration of life during the plantation days, more specifically, experiences with the Hawaiian paniolo.
Wally Rita Y Los Kauaianos, recognized as Kauai’s top kachi kachi band, will close the week’s celebration during a special Flavors of Kukuiula Friday, July 26 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the island’s “largest, family-friendly, pau-hana party.”
The Flavors of Kukuiula will pay homage to the island’s plantation heritage with plantation treats and delicacies that will be sold street-food-style, along with refreshments under the kachi-kachi stylings of Rita and his band.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
