From Soil to Toil: Celebrating Kona’s Finest Crop and the Volunteers of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival
By Aja Hannah
For 44 years, the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival has celebrated the coffee pioneers, farmers, and artisans alongside the coffee bean, itself.
This year the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is one of the winners of the 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel awards for best specialty food festival, a contest sponsored by USA Today.
Behind the award-winning festival’s success are the selfless volunteers who have donated their time for decades.
Mel Morimoto, Kona Coffee Cultural Festival President says, “The festival relies on hundreds of volunteers to help and take part in this 10-day celebration of the culture behind the cup.”
One of the most dedicated longtime volunteers is Norman Sakata, a former President of the Festival and current Chairman of the Board, who shaped the festival into what it is today.
A kind-faced man, he grew up in the farming life. As a young man, he worked for the state, but always found himself outside after work taking time to work the land.
When the festival first came together in 1970, it catered mostly to visitors. Norman attended the event and joined the effort two years later. In 1977, he pressed for change. He wanted the pioneers of Kona coffee to be recognized and requested the oldest coffee farmer, a man of 99 years, to be given the title of Grand Parade Marshall.
Only one problem: the Governor had already accepted the position.
As the story goes, Norman went to Governor George Ryoichi Ariyoshi and delivered his idea of the farmer being the Parade Marshall. The Governor smiled and said it wasn’t even a question. He would become the Honorary Marshall instead.
Since then, the festival has celebrated a local coffee person as the Parade Marshall every year. After another aged farmer, a lady farmer took the title of Parade Marshall, then a laborer, and then a representative for every ethnic group working in Kona coffee. Alfreida Fujita was Parade Marshall in 1996 and Norman had the honor in 2001.
Under Norman’s voluntary service and with the interest in cultural events and activities growing, the festival also amended its name from Kona Coffee Festival to Kona Coffee Cultural Festival in order to recognize the diverse people that made coffee a success and celebrate the lifestyle of those who grew up on the coffee farms.
The life of the coffee farmer was not grand. It required dedication and discipline. They needed “togetherness of family and friends, working together” in order to achieve, Norman says. And it was this life of togetherness and discipline, which led many to success.
In the private comfort of his Hōlualoa home, Norman shared a letter written by NASA Astronaut and Konawaena alumni Ellison Onizuka, who died in the Challenger mission in Jan. 1986.
Behind his bifocals, Norman’s eyes are bright as he recites word-for-word the last letter that he received from Ellison before the astronaut went into space. The letter thanked Norman for his support and gave special honor to his childhood life on a coffee farm.
Through Norman, Ellison explained how the coffee life was the most essential factor in making him reach his dreams to become the first Asian-American in space—not his NASA training. Not his time in the Air Force. It was his life on the coffee farm.
As the letter ends, my feet curl on Norman’s brown shag carpet because I have no appropriate words to say about this letter by Ellison or to the supportive man to whom Ellison wrote. Instead, we sit in the silence of memory, a memory before my birth, before we return to the festival.
Norman shares how the festival grew in length and size, and Kona Coffee distinguished itself from Brazilian coffee. The festival has become the oldest, most successful, and most active food festival in the state of Hawai‘i.
Past and present programs have included: lei contests, hula dancing, Hawaiian nose flute players, a play entitled Coffee Gamble, recipe contests sponsored by KTA, concerts, performances, Miss Kona Coffee pageant, quilt competitions, and talent shows.
In fact, the first Miss America to be crowned from Hawai‘i got her start in the Miss Kona Coffee pageant. In 1988, Carolyn Suzanne Sapp won the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival’s title, then moved to the state competition, and next the nation!
Norman emphasizes that the festival has been fortunate enough to receive generous donations. It is only with its supporters that the festival can continue to provide this cultural experience for its residents and visitors.
Among many others and over many years, he acknowledges Kamehameha Schools, the County of Hawai‘i Research and Development and Department of Agriculture, KTA Super Stores, the Big Island Visitors Bureau, Kona Pacific Farmers Co-op, Superior Coffee Company, Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, UCC Ueshima Coffee Company in Japan and Hawai‘i, and the countless newspapers and magazines that have covered the event.
He also credits the other long-term volunteers for providing all their time, inspiration, and tireless efforts.
One of these volunteers can be found at almost every Kokua Kailua Village Stroll, sitting in front of the Hulihe‘e Palace and Museum. Her silver and white hair is covered by a woven lauhala hat, one of many she and her husband sell at the Stroll. Known as “Aunty Fanny” by most people, Fanny AuHoy is the Chairman of the Lei Contest and Board Member for the Kona Coffee Culture Festival.
Aunty Fanny served as the curator for the Hulihe‘e Palace and Museum until she retired in October, 2011 (see Ke Ola Magazine story Jan.-Feb. 2012). As an educator, she believes keeping Hawaiian culture alive is something that should be shared with visitors, children, and adults alike.
In 2001, she became the Chairman of the lei contest and has no plans of stepping down anytime soon. She loves to see the creativity involved in each lei.
The lei contest ranges from 18–30 participants every year. People of any age can submit their work, as well. She says, “The more you work at it, the more nimble your fingers get.”
“People are in awe to see the amount of work that has gone into it,” says Aunty Fanny. Her favorite part is explaining to the visitors how to make lei and how coffee beans can be strung and still retain the scent of coffee.
Every year, Aunty Fanny recognizes visitors from previous years who have planned their Hawai‘i Island visit to coincide with the festival.
Though Aunty Fanny only became a member of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival in 2000, her work with this cultural celebration began many years ago. Aunty Fanny says, “I used to help now and then. Norman used to call me for little things and I always agreed.”
In fact, Aunty Fanny is such a well-known volunteer and cultural historian, that in the middle of the interview she had to pause to talk to a man about volunteering in another festival. When he asked if she could help, she said, “Sure, I’ll be there.”
Aunty Fanny knows it is important to volunteer because “you cannot only take and forget your community. You have to say, ‘mahalo.’”
She believes that if you’re going to complain about something in the community, then you need to get involved. You need to get out there and start to make the change yourself.
“This is what our entire state of Hawai‘i is built on: the community, the Aloha spirit,” she says.
Part of her volunteer contribution is always for the children. During the lei contest, children have their own group so that everyone is included and everyone leaves a winner.
“We do this so [the children] can understand and realize what Hawai‘i is all about because it is not taught in schools. Many people come to the island and don’t realize we had a king.”
As a lifetime student also, Aunty Fanny feels fortunate to have such a strong group of kūpuna on the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival Board. “I have learned so much from the kūpuna. Many of them have been there for 40-plus years.”
Aunty Fanny describes one of these kūpuna as “a firecracker named Alfreida Fujita.”
In their youth, Alfreida and Aunty Fanny worked for competing airlines and always helped each other out.
Alfreida is a small woman with a big vision. As a child, she worked on the coffee farms with her aunties and grandparents, and she is dedicated to her roots. Three years after the festival started, she was asked to help with the international market, a part of the festival with many different cultural foods and products. With the help of other Board members, she cultivated the cultural side of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival.
She had an idea—a big idea—for a play, and the head of the festival, Fred Fujimoto, supported it.
Coffee Gamble tells the story of the farmers, their families, and the struggle that made coffee what it is today in Kona. She still holds it close to her heart as one of the most rewarding projects she’s worked on.
“I really wanted the various cultures to live on.” So they incorporated diverse ethnic customs, like Japanese mochi pounding for celebrating a new year and Portuguese pickles and bread. Her ultimate goal was to show how coffee farmers lived and how they integrated with all different nationalities—how the coffee farmer culture came about, which was a similar goal to her grammar school playmate and Board Chairman, Norman.
For many years, they called on each other for new ideas, support, and advice. Norman describes Alfreida as a “go-to girl” with many bright ideas. He also says he has been fortunate enough to do “all of this with many of the same Board members.”
Alfreida remembers her history with the Board members, too. “[The kūpuna] brought their own customs from different countries and we all blended together and tried to live together harmoniously,” she says.
Alfreida has been sitting on the board of the Kona Cultural Coffee Festival for forty years. She was awarded the 2013 Preservation Honor Award for her many different volunteer jobs within the community and her dedication to perpetuating and restoring Hawai‘i’s cultural heritage.
In fact, the shop that her daughter, Renee, manages in Hōlualoa, now known as Kimura Lauhala Shop, is the same building Alfreida grew up in. Now, Renee handles the business and Alfreida stops in frequently to help.
“It’s time for the new generations. I would like to see young volunteers continue the festival for the community. They may have ideas on how to better the Coffee Festival. The kūpuna will give them the support and guidance.” ❖
To volunteer, contact Mel Morimoto, Kona Coffee Cultural Festival President: melmorimoto1@yahoo.com, 808.747.5424
Contact writer Aja Hannah: aja@ajahannah.com
