Kona Historical Society’s annual free-to-the-community event, the Farm Fest at the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, will take place during the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival on Sunday, Nov.11, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The theme this year, “Tales of Kona,” showcases Kona’s rich farming history through food, music, family activities and storytelling. Shuttles, generously sponsored by Hawai‘i Forest and Trail and Roberts Hawai‘i, will be running between the parking area of Kealakekua Ranch Center and the Kona Coffee Living History Farm from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking will not be available at the Farm, and vehicle access will be restricted to vendor, staff, volunteer drop-offs and drivers with handicap placards and licenses only.
PC: Kona Historical Society.
As a must-see event of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, Kona Historical Society’s Farm Fest highlights the heritage of the Kona community. Kona’s residents and visitors are invited to enjoy unique Kona stories and experience diverse forms of storytelling in Hawai‘i. The event will feature local music and entertainment, including cooking demonstrations with celebrity chef Sam Choy, live music from the Sons of Keawe featuring Bulla Ka`iliwai, hula performances from Hālau E Hulali Mai I Ka Lā, kupuna talk story, specialty food vendors, walks through the coffeeland led by Blue Zones, Kona coffee demonstrations with Pacific Coffee Research, community artists and cultural practitioners, hands-on family activities, pop-up exhibit, historic farmhouse and coffee mill interpretive programs, and Sandy’s Drive In will be returning to the farm to cook up a traditional plantation era dish: Chicken Hekka.
Celebrity Chef Sam Choy will be on hand. PC: Kona Historical Society.
The Kona Coffee Living History Farm, homesteaded by Japanese immigrants, reveals the story of Kona’s coffee pioneers in the 1925-1945 era. The coffee mill and farmhouse will be open to tours where guests can experience the domestic life of Kona’s coffee farmers. Visitors enter the kitchen where rice simmers on a traditional open-hearth stove before they remove their shoes to walk on tatami mats throughout the house. Outside, they learn to pick coffee and see how it was processed in the kuriba (mill) and dried on the hoshidana (drying platform). Guests can explore the gardens where
traditional vegetables are grown, visit the chickens in the chicken coop or say hello to Shizu, the Kona Nightingale Donkey.
New Donkey at the Kona Historical Society. PC: Kona Historical Society
Throughout the grounds of the Farm, historical interpreters, cultural practitioners and volunteers will be hosting “Hands on History” activities where guests can practice the art of lauhala weaving, Japanese calligraphy, medicinal gardening and pan roasting coffee, among others. The “Hands on History” program is generously supported by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. Hawai‘i Community Federal Credit Union is Title Sponsor of the event, and Hawaiian Isle Real Estate, Candy Sargent, and Farm & Garden are Platinum Sponsors. Pancake Digital Solutions, Onouli Farms, Kona Irrigation Supply,
Hawaiian First Water, LLC and West Hawai‘i Today are Gold Sponsors of Farm Fest.
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