Maka‘eo Path Fosters Health and Community

By Fern Gavelek

Build it and they will come. This statement certainly holds true for the Maka‘eo path at Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area. Flanking the mauka (upland) side of the former Kona Airport runway in Kailua-Kona, the paved asphalt path and its surrounding acreage is enjoyed by many who run, walk, or stroll its winding way.

Managed by Friends for Fitness (FFF), a nonprofit with a mission “to create and promote a healthy, livable, and physically active community,” the Maka‘eo Path and Community Gardens is seeking residents and organizations to literally dig in and participate in beautifying the arid landscape. Already in place are scattered gardens bearing drought-tolerant plants that have been planted and maintained by volunteers through the years, a variety of art objects, and a small anchialine pond.

“COVID restrictions have kept our garden volunteers away. We are seeking people-power and their planting vision to maintain and enrich our pathway,” says Sheila Colon, president and treasurer for FFF. “Individuals and small groups can socially distance and still plant an area to keep the gardens going.”

The path is a 7/10th-mile loop and is open daily during daylight hours. Joggers and walkers traverse both sunny and shady areas with the makai (seaside) part of the loop offering ocean views. Users are privy to a drinking fountain and a covered exercise station offering a chin-up bar, balance bars, and stretching post. A bulletin board near the path’s entrance shares garden news.

Involved with Maka‘eo since 1998, FFF has found the health of the pathway’s gardens instrumental to the health of those seeking physical activity.

“The attractive grounds entice people to use the path for exercise, and the nurturing of the plants provides exercise and therapy for garden volunteers,” notes Heidi Stromberg, FFF board member who got involved with Maka‘eo soon after its inception.

Many Collaborate to Create Maka‘eo

The park and its path have a muddled history. The former Kona Airport was reportedly dedicated as a state park in 1976 and the state subsequently paved the jogging path for public use. How today’s Maka‘eo path and gardens came to be is remembered by Carrie Kuwada Phipps, education specialist at University Center, West Hawai‘i at Pālamanui. Carrie was serving as a public health educator for the Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) in the 90s and instrumental in the joint DOH and community effort to put the existing jogging path into good use.

“My job was to develop community collaborations and coalitions around healthy lifestyle promotion,” shares Carrie. “We started a physical activity promotion coalition in Kona and they called themselves Friends for Fitness.”

Carrie says people in the community already promoting physical fitness—like race organizer Sean “Peaman” Pagett and swimming coach Steve Borowski—were invited to be involved and provide input. A group of interested people began to meet monthly, and looked at how to provide more venues to promote physical fitness.

“We initiated the 501(c)3 process so Friends for Fitness could apply for funding,” Carrie recalls. “The goal was to promote physical activity and help ethnic groups and others with high chronic disease risk issues.”

Friends for Fitness Takes the Ball, Runs with It

The opportunity came up for an $80,000 grant and FFF applied to transform the old airport runway into a multi-use exercise area. At that time, the area was the only park in Kona.

“The idea was to make environmental changes,” continues Carrie, who says a consultant was hired to help FFF define how to make the runway area user-friendly for multiple purposes. “We invited the entire community to participate.”

With all the input, FFF had conceptual plans drawn to accommodate green space, walking trails, areas to throw Frisbees, exercise classes, etc., and applied for the grant. FFF was awarded some funds, but the amount was much smaller than needed to implement the plan.

“Since the jogging path was already in, we decided to use the funds to partner with the state to enhance it,” says Carrie.

Path Used as a Conduit to Promote Physical Activity

Heidi, who joined the project in the mid-1990s as a Department of Health coalition coordinator, led the effort to get the community involved with path upkeep.

“First, we got rid of all the tall grass lining the path so users had a good field of vision and felt safe,” remembers Heidi. “We put in a drinking fountain and launched walking and fitness contests to acquaint people with the path so they would use it. We were especially appreciative during this time of the Kona Rotary and Kona Mauka Rotary clubs for their contribution of money and volunteer support.”

Carrie says companies enrolled their employees in the contests, which tracked the cumulative distance each team walked. “We also did health screenings, measuring weight and body fat,” she adds. In addition, teams were judged on their coordinated outfits and team spirit. Funding provided for a covered fitness station to further promote the physical activity along the path.

Maka‘eo Evolves to Add Community Gardens

To keep the path tidy, Heidi says FFF instituted monthly work days to keep the grass down and pull weeds. Path maintenance volunteers began donating plants as people wanted to beautify the path. Since the Adopt a Highway cleanup program was popular then, Sheila suggested FFF start an Adopt an Area of the Park program to further enhance the pathway.

“We recruited companies who had participated in the walking contest to participate with people power, plant donations or money,” Sheila recalls. “FFF members also adopted chosen areas of the park and soon we had plantings of trees, fragrant herbs, succulents, cactus, bromeliads and pandanus.”

With the beautification momentum going, areas were also adopted by local clubs, families, and individuals. FFF stepped up maintenance and organized weekly workdays on Thursdays. Volunteers would regularly come down to water plants, pull weeds and do whatever was necessary under the direction of Betty DeRoy, who continues to serve as FFF “park” coordinator today. Betty is responsible for overseeing the maintenance of Maka‘eo and matching people and groups with areas that need beautification—whether it’s maintaining and enhancing an existing garden section or starting a new garden planting from scratch.

“People move away, lose interest, or age out of participation so some planted gardens need new folks to adopt them,” shares Betty. There are currently eight organizations and 20 individuals signed up to care for gardens. One of these volunteers, Kaz Shigezawa, is credited with transforming the path’s southern area into a beautiful succulent garden.

Each garden has access to water, and volunteers bring their own tools and plants. While the acreage available for beautification around the path is unknown, Betty says there’s plenty of room for new people to get involved.

People Care for Gardens for Different Reasons

Until COVID, Nellie Reed of Hōlualoa had been involved with the Thursday work group for about two decades. She cites the opportunity of socializing with others who like gardening as a benefit of volunteering.

“We sometimes worked together as a small group of six or would pair off and do weeding or clearing,” shares Nellie, who says there was always lots of conversation going. “We started in the morning and worked a few hours until we sat down to enjoy lunch. Everyone brought food to share and it was fun to taste everyone’s good cooking.”

While Nellie says the group “worked hard,” it was also “a good day” as the band of volunteers got a job done in an enjoyable way. The octogenarian hopes to rejoin the effort after COVID.

New garden adoptee Dottie Rebuth of Kailua-Kona has planted a garden in memory of a deceased friend. Marked as “Shelley’s Garden” with a small painted sign, Dottie says 15 people are involved with the garden.

“We’re just honoring our friend and every time I’m here I can say hi to her,” smiles Dottie. “I love how this is a community project and it’s fun to see how others are caring for their gardens.”

Adopting a Garden is Easy

Those interested simply phone Betty and set up a time to meet at the garden, pick out a spot and fill out a form. Chosen sites can be large or small. There are some regulations regarding height of plants in certain areas and planting food is forbidden as it has resulted in rodents and theft.

“We want people to know about and be proud of Maka‘eo,” emphasizes Heidi. “This place was developed and has been maintained by the community and it’s here for others to get involved, whether for physical activity on the path or for gardening.”

Carrie adds, “The intention by DOH for the path was always to promote physical fitness and not to beautify the area. However, beautifying the path has turned out to be a win/win because people are being physically active while gardening and the beauty of the different gardens along the path entices people to come down and use the path.”

To sign up to adopt a garden or join the Thursday work group, call Betty at 808.329.5519. ❖

For more information: friendsforfitness.org

All photos by Fern Gavelek