KEKAHA — Free pumpkins and Hawaiian chili peppah plants, good food, hula, music, and even Halloween crafts filled the air at The Fall Festival on Saturday at Kekaha Neighborhood Center.
“Have you met Alex Soo?” Vianne Tabata wanted to know. “Alex came down for The Fall Festival and even brought a team from Aloun Farms with free giveaways to help with the pumpkins.”
The event marked the 10th year community organizers distributed free pumpkins to Kaua‘i’s keiki and their families, who converged on Kekaha Neighborhood Center from all parts of the island.
Some of those organizers included large agricultural producers like Kaua‘i Shrimp, Corteva Agriscience, Hartung Brothers and Bayer, where the pumpkins were grown and harvested for giveaway.
The event has grown to become an annual tradition on the westside. It has grown to include special performances from groups like Leina‘ala Pavao Jardin’s Halau Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala, who besides presenting a show-worthy performance, manned one of the food booths offering kalua pork plates as a fundraiser for the halau that participates in hula presentations and competitions deemed the best and biggest in the state.
Menu offerings were unique and not found in the commercial kitchens, as the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Football League volunteered with parking as well as having several of its associations offering food items, such as flying saucers.
“Did you see how many people there were?” said Alden Pablo, president of the Hanapepe Pop Warner following a daylong stint in all phases of flying saucer sales.
“With Aunty Steph’s help from the Kekaha Agricultural Group, we must’ve gone through more than 1,200 flying saucers. I hope we get this kind of turnout when Hanapepe Pop Warner presents its big carnival at the Hanapepe Stadium on Nov. 4 and 5.”
Sous Chef Angela Ventura, of the Shelter in Alaska, was helping with the West Kaua‘i Methodist Church and their offerings of Spam musubi, malasadas and mochi balls. Ventura, who grew up with gymnastics and helping the church with her mother, is one of the guest chefs participating in the Po‘ipu Food and Wine Festival in the final week of October.
Legacy partners, which allowed nonprofit organizations to raise funds, included A&B Hawai‘i, Inc., County of Kaua‘i, E Ola Mau Na Leo O Kekaha, Garden Isle Disposal, Global Ag, Grove Farm Company, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Gay and Robinson, HCIA, HHSC Kaua‘i Region, Kani Wildlife, Kamehameha Schools, Kaua‘i Pop Warner Football League, Kaua‘i Shrimp, Kekaha Agricultural Association, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, Kumu Hula Leina‘ala Pavao Jardin and Pepsico.
Premier sponsors included Aloun Farms, Bobby Farias, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Frank and Belinda VanderSloot, Hawai‘i Foodbank, Hawai‘i Foodservice Alliance, Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau, Kaua‘i Cowboy and Cattle Company and Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
