LIHUE — The last of the free pumpkins given away to celebrate Halloween will be available on Saturday when the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Kauai Region presents the Healthy Living Fall Festival on the campus of the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea.
“Join us for the Kauai Healthy Living Fall Festival from 9 a.m. to noon at KVMH,” said a spokesperson for the HHSC, Kauai Region. “It’s a free event for the entire community. We’re excited to welcome everyone to a fun-filled day with live music, food, giveaways, health resources, and family-friendly activities. Come celebrate wellness and enjoy a great time with friends and neighbors.”
The fall festival wraps up the free giveaways of lots of pumpkins. According to Laurie Yoshida of Corteva Agriscience, one of the coordinators for free locally-grown pumpkins distributed at the recent Harvest Festival in Kekaha, about 1,200 pumpkins were allocated to the event.
Another 250 pumpkins were delivered to The Shops at Kukuiula on Friday where the pumpkins were given out ahead of the shopping center’s movie night featuring free snacks to go along with the movie featuring the Minions.
Three hundred of the golden orbs greeted visitors, shoppers and vendors at The Grove Farm Market on Saturday where Teddy Arroyo of Westcon, the Pop Warner football regional office, said the event was a family event where his family took on the task of distributing the pumpkins to people who noted that Safeway was selling pumpkins.
“The organizers have the pumpkins going to the kupuna, too,” Arroyo said. “They delivered a bunch to the Regency at Puakea where Pam Arroyo is the director. The kupuna enjoyed decorating the pumpkins to celebrate Halloween.”
Teddy Arroyo said the Harvest Festival had pumpkins being shipped to Maui, schools on the Big Island and Molokai.
“This started, last year,” he said. “Following the wildfires on Maui that destroyed Lahaina, the Kauai organizers arranged to have pumpkins shipped to at least several schools so the keiki could have pumpkins for Halloween.”
On Monday, the Harvest Festival arranged for Gary Ueunten, the Kauai County Farm Bureau treasurer, to pick up 250 pumpkins for distribution at the weekly Pau Hana Market that is a collaboration between the Farm Bureau and Kukui Grove Center.
That amount includes the 50 reserved for the Kapaa Middle School student center that will celebrate its opening on Friday.
Among the recipients getting free pumpkins nestled between the St. Paul’s salsa, and the shave ice and fresh eggs from the Kauai High School Future Farmers of America, a keiki was grateful to get a pumpkin after being told the pumpkins were sold out after traveling to Kekaha for the Harvest Festival.
Other recipients included patrons who visited the Kauai Chocolate & Coffee Festival at the Kilohana Luau Pavilion on Sunday only to learn that there were no free pumpkins.
Yoshida said these figures are for “public” giveaways. She said there are other places where the pumpkins will be delivered to, but these are private functions.
