Giving Back, Paying Forward: Kona Brewers Festival

By Catherine Tarleton

What do potato chips, compost, microscopic algae, high school seniors, runners, recyclables, bicycles, beer, and some of Hawai‘i Island’s best chefs have in common?

They’re all part of the Kona Brewers Festival (KBF), a three-day celebration March 7–9 that’s less about the beer than the benefits to our island community. The numerous nonprofits who help pull the Festival together have received over $555,000 in the last 18 years, and in turn, beneficiaries share their volunteer labor and enthusiasm, before, during, and after KBF events.

The story starts in 1978, when young business innovator Cameron Healy began Kettle Foods with an old van and inspiration, delivering nuts and cheeses between Seattle, WA and Eugene, OR. After a visit to Hawai‘i, he developed the Kettle Brand Potato Chip in 1982, and with son Spoon Khalsa, opened Kona Brewing Company in 1994. KBF began two years later, to promote the new Kona Brewing Company, and the growing microbrew industry, and to encourage collaborative relationships and increase environmental awareness.

Along the way, both Kettle Foods (now part of the Diamond Foods family) and Kona Brewing Company have remained committed to the environment and sustainability at their various locations—from the largest commercial solar array in the Pacific Northwest, to wetlands restoration in Oregon, biodiesel fuel for company vehicles (some from recycled cooking oil), a LEED® Gold certification in its Wisconsin facility, cause-marketing partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, and intensive sustainability processes in the Kailua-Kona brewing plant.

In 2000, as a tribute to his father, Healy established the Bill Healy Foundation, for the purpose of philanthropic giving to nonprofits in Oregon and Hawai‘i, committed to “environmental conservation and the well-being of children.” One of their largest projects is Kapahukapu, “Manini Beach,” south of Kealakekua Bay. The Foundation leased beach property from the Kamehameha Schools Foundation in 2001, conducted an extensive renovation, and set up full time resident caretakers, landscape maintenance, and bathroom facilities.

Funds raised through KBF are distributed by the Bill Healy Foundation. In 2012, Kona Brewers Festival and Bill Healy Foundation supported 13 Hawai‘i Island community nonprofits with over $80,000. And, in the continuing spirit of collaboration, those nonprofits give back to KBF. Hawai‘i Montessori School runs the annual Golf Tournament; the canoe clubs help by moving their canoes to make room for festival events; Nā Wai Iwi Ola Foundation, under the direction of Kumu Keala Ching, shares Hawaiian cultural presence with opening protocols, hula, and place-based education; and other groups pitch in on promotion, retail sales, set up, and clean up.

“It’s a really neat event because it pulls people in from the local community who maybe weren’t even interested in going to a brewers festival,” said John Simmerman of Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawai‘i (PATH), hard at work on KBF’s sixth annual Run for Hops. “It’s a nice mix of local residents and folks from all over the country.”

Simmerman is targeting 500 runners for the 5K and 10K competitions, starting and finishing this year at BMW Hawai‘i on Saturday, March 9. “We are one of the few beneficiaries of the program that raises its own money,” said Simmerman. “We contribute 20% of what we raise back into the pool for those that aren’t able to have a fundraiser. It’s kind of a self-supporting, sustainable event.” Funds go to support PATH’S bike safety education programs for fourth graders in schools island wide.

“Our mission is to support organizations for children and environment,” said KBF Executive Director Kate Jacobson. “And often it’s both—like PATH for example… We really like it when the mission is combined within the organization.” Jacobsen said that the simple application process generally opens in the fall, for any island nonprofits meeting the Bill Healy Foundation parameters.

“It’s a joy—a really, really fun job,” said Jacobson. “Our first year, we raised $5,000… and 18 years later we’re shooting for $100,000 for our beneficiaries.” Jacobson started work with KBF as a beneficiary and volunteer, with Hōlualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture (HFAC).

She and husband Will Jacobson are both ceramic artists, who came to the island 12 years ago and became involved with HFAC, a growing nonprofit that offers art education for adults and youth at the Donkey Mill Art Center in Hōlualoa. Ongoing programs include papermaking, plein air painting, ceramics, a cinema club, and many others.

The group participates with KBF every year, designing graphics, organizing the Volunteer Mahalo Party and Brewers Pā‘ina, which takes place Thursday, March 7, at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort, 6–8 pm. The KBF signature event, “Kona Brewers Festival” happens Saturday, March 9, 2:30–6:30 pm at the Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. There, volunteers will pour 40 different craft brews from around the country, as well as meads, hard cider, and a gluten-free beer.

In addition to hand-crafted microwbrew tastings, festival attendees can also look forward to an array of delectable edibles. “You come for the beer but you stay for the food,” said Jacobson. “It’s really a beer-food pairing event.” Gourmet pūpū will be prepared and served by talented chefs from forty island restaurants, coordinated by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Kona-Kohala Chefs de Cuisine.

“We help organize the different restaurants and chefs, and have a tasting station,” said local ACF President Devin Lowder. Funds raised for ACF are used to support programs for students in the culinary arts, including thousands of dollars in scholarship monies. “We do a two-day Culinary Summit workshop in the spring… and also work with the teachers,” said Lowder. “Hopefully, it helps get students interested in going to the Community College cooking school.”

“They buy equipment, fund trips for kids to competitions,” said Jacobson. “And they are a great bunch. Culinary arts are such a huge part of our economy, and it tends to be lumped into the category of ‘tourism.’ It’s a great life, and this is such a great opportunity to support culinary arts in Hawai‘i.”

“Kona Brewers Festival is a lot of fun,” said Lowder. “It’s a good, fun event, and it’s good to see the community come out to support all these great nonprofits.”

To support their sustainable and environment-friendly ideals, KBF encourages chefs to use recyclable—or even edible—serving presentations and utensils. A special ‘Āina Akamai award is presented for the most innovative food tasting station, with a perpetual trophy on display at the Kona Brewpub in Kailua-Kona. Recycling—an important part of KBF since its inception—is handled in a variety of ways by volunteers from the beneficiary organizations. Innovations Public Charter School has helped move KBF towards becoming a zero-waste event over the last seven years.

“Creating composting helps eliminate two-thirds of the waste,” said Garden Leader Krista Donaldson. “The compost is turned into soil at Innovations and Kona Pacific School.” Donaldson said that very little waste actually goes into the landfill after recyclable and compostable materials are removed.

“It’s amazing,” said Donaldson, “The year of the tsunami, we only filled one-third of a 4×6 dumpster—that was it. Everything else was composted and recycled.” KBF supports the Garden Leader position at the school, which educates children about how to grow their own food, sustainable gardening practices, and more.

“We are training the volunteers too,” said Donaldson, “talking to them about zero-waste methods, which they take back to their institutions… Hōnaunau Elementary School (another beneficiary) has incorporated them into classroom lessons; they have zero-waste programs at school and biodegradable food service.” She commended KBF for educating the community as well. “Kona Brewers Festival has been the cornerstone of this kind of training—in many ways,” she said.

“Pre-cycling” is done by volunteers from Kealakehe High School’s Project Grad, an all-night drug and alcohol free party for high school seniors, held annually in May. Project Grad has grown so successful, that Konawaena High School is planning one of their own, and joined the KBF beneficiary ‘ohana. To keep their intentions clear, Project Grad teams do not attend the Festival, instead they help with set-up, and do a full pre-opening sweep of the food area, removing cardboard boxes and other materials.

“It has worked out great for us,” said Project Grad volunteer grant writer Ann Scanlon. “It’s a lot of fun in the morning when everybody’s fresh, and the kids are so excited.” Scanlon started work with Project Grad when her daughter was a senior. “I’m a big fan of Kona Brewers Festival, and I’m not really a drinker,” said Scanlon. “I go for the fun and the people—and for Project Grad.”

Also part of the recycling effort is another education-based organization and new KBF beneficiary this year, Friends of NELHA. Created in 2001, the Friends fulfill community education and outreach responsibility of the Natural Energy Laboratory Hawai‘i Authority.

“We do education and outreach presentations and tours as a service to the community,” said volunteer leader David Vaughn. “We have fun,” said Vaughn. NELHA projects include a little bit of everything related to the ocean, including work with micro algae, algae as food for different kinds of marine life, research on fish, raising seahorses, flounder, abalone, the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) water-to-energy technologies, and much more.

“Today, the kampachi farm is using soybeans to create better food for fish,” said Vaughn. “Tying the resources of land and sea together… It’s all very fascinating—and so dynamic,” he said. “It helps maintain the passion for what we are doing.”

Passion seems to be the key element in common with all KBF volunteers and beneficiaries, working together to give back, pay forward and make a difference, one beer at a time.

Beneficiaries of the 2013 Kona Brewer Festival:

Aloha Performing Arts Company
American Culinary Federation, Kona Kohala Chefs de Cuisine
Friends of NELHA (Natural Energy Laboratory Hawaii Authority)
Hawai‘i Montessori School
Hōlualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture
Hōnaunau Elementary School
Hualālai Academy
Innovations Pubic Charter School Foundation
Kai ‘Ehitu Outrigger Team
Kai ‘Opua Canoe Club
Kealakehe Project Grad
Konawaena Project Grad
Kona Athletic Club
Kona Pacific Public Charter School
Nā Wai Iwi Ola Foundation
Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawai‘i (PATH)
Society for Kona’s Education and Art (SKEA)
Tui Tonga Canoe Club
West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy (WHEA)

The 18th annual Kona Brewers Festival takes place March 7-9, 2013. Sponsored by Alaska Airlines, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawaiian Solar, Keauhou Veterinary Hospital and others, Kona Brewers Festival supports island community nonprofits working with children and environmental causes, through the Bill Healy Foundation. Tickets sell out quickly. ❖

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For tickets and more information: KonaBrewersFestival.com

Contact writer Catherine Tarleton: catherinetarleton@gmail.com