Ka Puana: Bananas Don’t Grow on Trees
By Rocky Sherwood The first time I saw the Kona Coast of Hawai‘i, it was all dressed up in early December. Hillsides exploded in blood red poinsettias and wild yellow daisies cascaded over rocky cliff edges, reflecting daylight like small…
The Life in Business: Dragonfly Ranch
Barbara Ann Kenonilani Moore’s mission in life since the early 1970s has been to create a nurturing environment called The Dragonfly Ranch: Healing Arts Center. The year 1974 was marked by two accomplishments that were significant to her. She learned…
The Life in Business: Hawaii’s Gift Baskets
Tamarra (Tammy) Sullivan has listened to visitors’ requests for gifts to take home from the Big Island for more than 30 years. “I feel I know what makes people remember Hawai‘i and I want to put it all in a…
Creating Ha with Bolo: He’s “Been There, Done That,” and Made the T-Shirt
With Music Correspondent Colin John Bolo Mikiela Rodrigues, or “Bolo” as he is best known, greets me at the gate of his family home—which also serves as his design workshop and inspirational hale—with a friendly smile and an affable, ”Howzit?”…
Hilo Coffee Mill: More Than Java
By Devany Vickery-Davidson Most people immediately think of Kona when you say Hawai‘ian Coffee. But things are changing in that realm. There is fine coffee being grown on other islands and there are fantastic coffees being grown in Hilo, north…
Feng Shui Hawaiian Style: Metal for Clarity, Strength, and Success in the Year of the Tiger
By Marta Barreras, Master Feng Shui Practitioner Have you sensed a feeling of change in the air lately? As 2010 marks the commencement of a new decade, Chinese astrology claims it to be the Year of the Metal Tiger. Symbolizing…
It’s No Secret: Huggo’s Is Invested in Making Kona a Better Place for Living and Eating
By Fern Gavelek When Huggo’s opened its doors in 1969, restaurateurs Shirley and Hugo von Platen Luder knew they had a prime spot for oceanfront dining in Kailua-Kona. Now in its second generation in the same family and the oldest…
Plantation Era Is Gone, and Pahala Lives On: Historic Preservationist Julia Neal Uses Hammer and Wood to Pull the Community Together
By Ann C. Peterson When the Pahala Sugar Mill closed in 1996, after 135 years as the town’s major employer, the village of Pahala in the Big Island’s southern district of Ka‘u went quiet. Some folks moved, but many local…
Have You Ever Known a WWOOFer? They’re Helping Farmers All Over the Big Island!
By Hadley Catalano Dana Ronnquist had always been interested in permaculture and organic farming. Growing up in Westchester County, New York, an hour outside the city, the 24-year-old hadn’t had the opportunity to get hands-on experience in what she felt…
Fluid Ocean Portraits: Victoria McCormick’s Images Reflect a Trusting Relationship with Marine Creatures
By Marya Mann Dances with the Ocean Heavenly light filters through the ocean surface into the underwater world, birthplace of life on Earth. Fine art photographer Victoria McCormick slips into this liquid womb of coral reef and eagle rays, swimming…
Angels of the Dance: Talented Big Island Youth Aspire to New Heights Under the Tutelage of Angel Prince
By Kim Cope Tait A young woman emerges from darkness, taking tentative steps along the railing of a balcony; sunset sky sends a pale strip of fiery light along the horizon, apparently far below her precarious heights. “I never loved…
Then & Now: A Country Vet In Kona
By Jolene Head “Doc” McCoy was never one to turn people away and enjoyed giving back to the community of Kona and to the State of Hawai‘i. Before Hawai‘i was a state, Dr. Kid McCoy was appointed the Territorial Deputy…
The Life In Business: Cindy Griffey, RA
Her casual, comfortable style is a signature of Cindy Griffey, RA, and it may explain a little of why she is the top-selling real estate agent with Century 21 All Islands. She helps clients feel comfortable. Cindy has ranked number…
Ka Puana: Rooster & Papaya
Excerpted from The Solid Green Birthday & Other Fables by Big Island author Kona Lowell There is a young wild rooster that likes to visit my house in the early morning and practice his crowing. He is not very good…
The Life In Business: Devin McHugh Optical
This is the story of a globe-trotting farm boy from upstate New York who became a bartender, a deejay, an insurance agent, a pilot in the West Indies, solar salesman and a thoroughbred horse farm manager. He was working at…
The Life In Business: Douglas H. Dierenfield, DDS
When Douglas Dierenfield, DDS, first came to Kona in 1976, there weren’t many people and very few dentists, he said. “I was commuting to Molokai and Hana, Maui, via Royal Hawaiian Air Service and doing dentistry there a few days…
A Dream To Reality: The First Kona Jazz Festival—Brittni Paiva and Cyril Pahinui Talk Story
By Colin John Wouldn’t it be wonderful if…” is an oft-heard phrase when people are dreaming or thinking about possibilities. One such dream that has become a reality is the First Annual Kona Jazz Festival, set to take place at…
Kava Culture—Facts and Fiction
By Barbara Fahs In Western culture, the herbal supplement Kava Kava, was popular as a sleep aid and anti-anxiety remedy during the late 1990s, until the negative results of a European study were widely publicized. (Some say pharmaceutical companies initiated…
Hidden Treasures: Hilo Bay Café
By Devany Vickery-Davidson Hilo Bay Café sits in an unpretentious strip mall in a busy Wal-Mart shopping center, and regardless of what the location suggests, they are consistently producing some of the finest and most innovative food on Hawai’i Island.…
Crafting the Sacred Pahu Drum
By Fern Gavelek The drum selected him—not vise versa. Kumu Hula Aloha Victor of Halau Kala‘akeakauikawekiu recalls when he purchased his first pahu (drum) from Rodney “Uncle Kala” Willis as if it were yesterday. It was October, 2005. “We were…
Viewpoint: Investment Tips for a Regenerative Future
By Michael Kramer, M.Ed, AIF®, Managing Partner & Director of Social Research, Natural Investments LLC With climate change and peak oil now widely accepted, in the past few years we have witnessed the proliferation of investment opportunities under the green,…
Used Veggie Oil Fuels Fabulous Glass Art
By Andrea Dean and Karen Valentine In their studio on the Hamakua Coast, glass blowing artists Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross move around each other in an intricate dance done with hot glass on the end of metal pipes. They…
Who Is That Woman Behind the Green Cape? Green Power Girl…Super Hero!
By Andrea Dean The day started like any other. Gigi Starr got up in the morning, ate breakfast and went to school. She was the new girl at Goodall Middle School and was already feeling like the lone wolf of…
Walking In the Footsteps of a Kahuna Elder
By Marya Mann “There is no separation between one lifetime and the next lifetime, so therefore, it’s time for all of us to wake up.”—Kupuna Hale Kealohalani Makua, Native Hawaiian Elder Elder’s Council Meetings in Bali & Hawaii, 2002-2003 You…
More Than a Wooden Big-Top: Soaring High at S.P.A.C.E. in Puna
By Alan D. McNarie Juggler Graham Ellis, who founded Puna’s Hiccup Circus in 1984 to educate and inspire local kids through circus arts, longed for a home base. For nearly two decades, Ellis, his performer friends and students had performed…
Then & Now: Wai‘ōhino
By Ann C. Peterson Driving through the sleepy little village of Wai‘ōhinu, tucked into a lush, green valley near the larger village of Na‘alehu, it’s hard to believe that it was once the economic hub of Ka‘u. Rich in early…
The Life In Business: Eryce Enterprises
The Big Island has always been a favorite location for people’s second homes. And in today’s market, many have turned their second homes into vacation home rentals. Eryce Enterprises is in business to help both. “With the economy being what…
Teens Take the Stage in SONG: Stars Of the Next Generation
By Hadley Catalano A group of 15 teenagers—unsupervised and listening to music—gather inside on a sunny Sunday afternoon in early November. It’s hot inside the old attic space of the Aloha Performing Arts Center LOFT and the kids are sweating.…
Paris Without the Jet Lag: Restaurant La Bourgogne
By Fern Gavelek If you think Restaurant La Bourgogne is Kona’s best-kept culinary secret—think again. Booked way in advance for Valentine’s Day and other major holidays, the classic French restaurant is abuzz with new and loyal, satisfied patrons dining on…
An Amazing Thing Is the Humble Gourd: Ipu and the Rediscovery of an Art Medium
By Fern Gavelek With no pottery, metal or glass, early Hawaiians found a myriad of creative ways to use gourds. From water carriers to ossuary urns, from musical instruments to canoe bailers, they could be plucked from a vine in…
![“Most people who new Makua just couldn’t resist being in his presence,” says visionary social architect Jim Channon. “[When I painted this] I tried to capture how he fully occupied the field of energy that he was a part of. He was a much beloved friend to all who had the good luck of knowing him.”](https://keolamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/kahuan-elder-1.jpg)
