Every Store has its Story: Holy’s Bakery in Kapa‘au
By Hadley Catalano It’s pie day at Holy’s Bakery in Kapa‘au, where handmade empty pie shells, stacked high on baking racks, are waiting to be filled with the Hori family’s signature frozen buttered peach, pear, coconut, and apple pie recipes.…
Music Rocks Her World: Quack Moore and Her Beloved Palace Theater
By Paula Thomas The Palace Theater is a vintage and singular jewel on the Hilo landscape. Located on Haili Street just off the bayfront, the theater is undergoing steady restoration and refurbishment. Overseeing the transformation from “deteriorating” to “shabby chic”…
Calvin Cerrone: Kona Pre-Teen Bodyboarder Making Waves
By Denise Laitinen Calvin Cerrone is not your typical pre-teen. While most 12-year-old boys are glued to video game consoles, Calvin has been winning bodyboarding competitions around the state and racking up sponsors faster than you can say “barrel roll.”…
Lighting the Path: Kumu Keala Ching Liberally Shares His Passion for Hawaiian Culture
By Karen Valentine A gentle, humble, and graceful man commands a presence on stage or facing a group of students—rapt and listening intently. A kumu hula (teacher of hula), kumu ‘ōlelo (… Hawaiian language), kumu oli (… chant), practitioner of…
Makahiki—Codes for Regeneration
By Marya Mann Excitement filled all the hearts. It was a November night before Makahiki, around the time of the new moon, and the faint group of white-blue stars, the Pleiades, was about to rise in the east, signaling the…
Ka Wehena: Pono Ke Ola Pono
Na Kumu Keala Ching E Ka Lani ē E ka lani ē, e ho‘olono mai ‘oe Chief, hear me deeply E ka lani ē, e alaka‘i mai ‘oe Chief, guide me always E ka lani ē, e ho‘ōla mai ‘oe…
A Home Built Around Orchids: Love of a Flower Inspired a House Project
By Denise Laitinen When Julie Goettsch saw the orchid wall at the Kahala Resort on O‘ahu back in 1969 she vowed to herself that someday she would have a similar wall in her home. It took 40 years and a…
A Mission of Enduring Gratitude: One Boy’s Life Opened a Door for Community Caring
By Karen Valentine A beam of light filters through the thickly compacted branches towering overhead, highlighting the myriad hues of green: from light and delicate fern shades to deep and mysterious jungle tones. “My cathedral,” 25-year-old Daniel “Danny” Sayre calls…
Talking Story with Uncle Robert: Revered Puna Kupuna Holds Court at the End of the Road
By Denise Laitinen If you live in Puna, chances are you know where to find Uncle Robert’s. No need for directions—everyone knows that his family’s four-acre compound can be found at the end of Kapoho-Kalapana Road. The site of Uncle…
“Cowman A-Moo-Ha”: On the Run for World Peace
By Fern Gavelek It’s easy to spot the Kailua-Kona resident known simply as “Cowman” running races and triathlons all over the world. Sporting his trademark, horn-topped helmet and hand-drawn t-shirts, Cowman has been competing in marathons and triathlons for over…
Youth Invade Volcanoes National Park with Enthusiasm: Internship Program, in its Third Year, Exceeds Expectations
By Alan D. McNarie “I always thought that geology was just historic things in the past,” muses Tyler Atwood. “But here the volcano changes every day. The entire elevation of where you stand changes every day. They just paved Chain…
Hawaiian Petroglyphs Tell Stories of the Past
By Margaret Kearns K‘i‘i pōhaku – the name Hawaiians gave their petroglyphs – are found scattered throughout the island chain. The largest, most concentrated fields of ancient rock carvings, however, are found here on Hawai‘i Island, where smooth, pahoehoe lava…
Atmospheric Art: Revealing the Island’s Inner Light
By Marya Mann From the searing cauldron of Kīlauea Volcano to the cool surfing waves of Waipi‘o Valley and the breathtaking summits of Hualālai and Mauna Kea, he had space to stretch out and explore all the edges, opposites and…
Debbie Hecht Loves Open Spaces: A Tireless Campaigner for the 2-Percent Land Fund
By Hadley Catalano Debbie Hecht is not your typical sign-waving activist. For the past eight years, since the Tucson, Arizona transplant relocated to the Big Island, Hecht has become the leading voice on what she considers to be one of…
Immersion with a Mermaid: This Kona Marine Mammal Has a True Tale to Tell
By Marya Mann In a challenge so unifying it has inspired global support among indigenous people, surfers, artists, marine scientists, models, musicians, boat captains, photographers, filmmakers, businesspeople, angel card readers and even Flipper’s original trainer, one Kona resident stands out.…
Ka Wehena: E Ho‘omalu o Hawai‘i Nei
E Ho‘omalu o Hawai‘i Nei …Blessings of Hawai‘i …Na Kumu Keala Ching… E ho’ōla mai ka honua ala …Heal the earth …E ola hou ka ‘ike kupuna …Revive the ancient knowledge …E ho’omana’o ka ‘oia’i’o pono’ī …Remember the righteous truth…
Burning Spirit: Inspirations with Master Painter David “Kawika” Gallegos
By Karen Valentine Someone or some spirit has been looking out for David Maes “Kawika” Gallegos. With divine timing and serendipity, and in spite of personal crises, deep heartbreaks and challenges, the right person (or angel) has appeared at the…
Every Store Has a Story: H. Kimura Store–Oshima and Kimura Families Still Operate Historic Kainaliu General Stores
By Hadley Catalano If you walked into Kimura Store as a child it was almost guaranteed that Mrs. Irene Kimura would give you a piece of candy. While that reason alone might be good enough for any seven-year-old to visit…
Hands On, Minds Ahead! All Aboard Bluewater Exploration
By Fern Gavelek “Throughout the course of human events, mankind’s impacts on the environment have stressed the carrying capacity of our ocean, thus ruining the essence of why we love and enjoy areas such as the Keauhou-Kona coast. Experience has…
There’s Help for Orchid Brown Thumbs: Hilo Orchid Societyʻs Mission to Help Everyone Grow Orchids
By Denise Laitinen Julie Goettsch wants to set the record straight. The president of the Hilo Orchid Society (HOS) wants people to know that growing orchids isn’t complicated or difficult to do, especially here on an island known as the…
Behind the Scenes at the Lu‘au: History and ‘Ohana Craft a Memorable Experience
By Marya Mann The emcee’s voice sets the tone of enchantment for visitors to Hawai‘i, first through a culinary feast and into the dreamscape of a Pacific odyssey. They’ve been anticipating this evening for a long time, a climax to…
Search for the Heart of Kahalu‘u: E mālama i Nā Papa–Protect Our Coral Reefs
By Marya Mann It’s a courtship by the sea, except we’re sitting in a Bakken Foundation classroom north of Kailua-Kona, where ReefTeach trainers show color slides of brilliant and broken corals that flourish and die in Kahalu‘u Bay. They want…
Home on the Ka‘u Range: The Kuahiwi Family Ranch and Natural, Free-Range Beef
By Denise Laitinen When Captain John Vancouver presented King Kamehameha with cattle on the Big Island as a gift in 1793, no one imagined the impact it would have on the future of the island. Kamehameha placed a kapu on…
2012 Transit of Venus: Hawai‘i Island Best Place to See a Rare Astronomical Event
By Jon Lomberg June 5, 2012 On June 5, 2012, the Earth, Sun, and the planet Venus will briefly line up, and Venus will slowly move across the Sun’s face, like a tiny eclipse. This is in fact the rarest…
Earl Bakken, at 88, Has Many Dreams Come True
Visionary Philanthropist Wants Kids to Have a Better Future By Fern Gavelek He goes to bed every night with pen and paper at his side. “That’s because I dream of ideas while falling asleep,” says Earl Bakken, M.D. HON. C.…
Every Store Has a Story: The Saito Family and Pa‘auilo Store
By Hadley Catalano It might just be that a simple bento roll is what has kept the Saito family of Hāmākua in business all these years, and helped their family store to recently reach its 63rd anniversary. You may have…
Leo Sears: Curtain Going Up
By Catherine Tarleton Little did Leo Sears know, back in Kansas, that his first onstage experience in a local high school play, Curtain Going Up, would be an appropriate title for his own life drama and career. Even though his…
Save the Bees, Save the Planet: Listening to the Buzz with Bee Oracle Alison Yahna
By Marya Mann A honeybee swarm came to Alison Yahna and it changed her life forever. The bees came in a swirling rush, alighting on a small cedar tree near her home. With help from a friend she moved the…
The Plight of the Honeybee: Big Island Honeybees are Vital to Keeping Us Fed, Our Skin Soft and Even Healing Cuts on Fish Fins
By Denise Laitinen Raw honey may look like liquid gold, but it is the bees themselves that are worth their weight in gold. “Albert Einstein once said that without honeybees the human race as we know would end in seven…
The Nene Project: GPS Tracking Reveals the Hawaiian Goose Doin’ What Comes Naturally
By Fern Gavelek Hawai‘i’s beloved state bird, the nēnē, is making a comeback, and a new Hawai‘i Island study has revealed some fascinating facts about the Hawaiian goose and how we can help it thrive. The good news is the…
