PUHI — Ron Wood of FM97 found his oranges, cucumbers and green onions for saimin Saturday when the Puhi Park Produce opened its gates to shoppers at 10 a.m. at the Grove Farm park.
“I got what I needed,” Wood said, opening his shopping bag to reveal its contents following his on-air stint at the radio station. “Now, I thought I saw my barber. I need to find him so I can find out if he’s open.”
Larry Feinstein joined Jim Guerber of the Kaua‘i Beer Company in shopping through the collection of 19 vendors who opened the Puhi Park Produce gathering Saturday morning at the Grove Farm park, where shoppers could park along Puhi Road and Kikowaena Street before entering the shopping arena that was closely monitored by Grove Farm staff for social-distancing and other prevent-the-spread guidelines.
“I got my oranges, too,” Feinstein said. “This is so good they opened this to people. The oranges were more reasonably-priced compared to the big-box stores, and they’re fresher. This should’ve happened a lot earlier.”
Shawn Shimabukuro of Grove Farm said they printed out social-distancing guidelines that was distributed to shoppers entering the shopping area. These included staying at least six feet from others, wearing face masks, sanitizing hands, avoiding face-touching, pointing to what they wanted from the vendors and not touching the offerings, shopping quickly and efficiently, placing a pre-order with a farmer and utilizing the pre-order pickup area for faster service, and not attending if not feeling well.
The majority of shoppers complied with the guidelines, sometimes getting friendly reminders from the Grove Farm monitors who canvassed the shopping area, eager to assist both shoppers and vendors.
“This is going to grow,” Guerber said while waiting to make his purchase. “As more people hear about this, they’re going to start shopping here. They just need to know about the social distancing and allowing for people to have their room.”
Bea Raco of Lee’s Furniture was helping one of the vendors, Wirat Yotcha, with his stand.
“Look at him,” Raco said. “He’s so proud of his pineapples. This is such a good event. Wirat leases land from Grove Farm to grow his fruits and vegetables with his wife and son,” said Raco.
“They’ve been doing this for the last 10 years. But they have a hard time trying to understand what is going on because they don’t understand the language. I’m helping him learn,” she said.
”I was letting him set up in front of the former restaurant near PS&D before this market. He’s still there on the days the market is not held.”
Spearheaded by efforts from Grove Farm, the Puhi Park Produce offers an alternative for residents to continue to get their locally-grown fruits and vegetables following the closure of the county’s network of Sunshine Markets, and the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau-partnership fairs at the Kaua‘i Community College and The Shops at Kukui‘ula.
Rita Barriga of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Marilyn Barriga of California, were thrilled to find assortments of tropical flowers among the offerings in the park.
“We’ve been here since January,” Marilyn Barriga said. “We can’t go home because we’re caring for our mom. Today, we found these flowers so we can go visit my father’s and sister’s graves. This is so good to be able to come out in the sun and fresh air.”
Loraine Ballesteros and Laverne Bisarra shared pulling their wagonload of produce.
“We’re done,” Bisarra said. “That was really good. We’re now set for another two weeks.”
Puhi Park Produce continues Wednesday starting at 2 p.m. until vendors sell out. It returns Saturday from 10 a.m. at the Grove Farm park.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
