Ka'u News Briefs Jan. 22, 2012

Father Joel blessed Ka`u Coffee Mill, with owner Edmund C. Olson following. Photos by Geneveve Fyvie

Visitor center at Ka`u Coffee Mill
will be open within a month.

THE BLESSING OF THE KA`U COFFEE MILL brought some 300 people to Keaiwa along Wood Valley Road above Pahala yesterday to celebrate the new mill, agricultural park and hydroelectric project. John Cross, who manages both the Edmund C. Olson Trust lands and the Ka`u Coffee Mill, said the visitor center and mill was built for all the Ka`u Coffee farmers. Not only the Ka`u Coffee Mill coffee will be sold at the visitor center, but boutique and award-winning coffee from individual farmers will be sold there, with the first brands displayed being those of Bull and Jamie Kailiawa, Leo Norberte and the Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative. Cross pointed to the Ka`u Coffee Mill staff, mill supervisor Lee Segawa, administrative assistant Brenda Iokepa-Moses, coffee consultant Richard Loero, contractor Bob Taylor and others who helped put the operation together. Demetrius Oliveira gave the opening prayer. Father Joel, the Rev. Bruno C. Barut, sprinkled holy water around the facility. The band Keaiwa and Keoki Kahumoku provided music. Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula. Attendees enjoyed Hawaiian food by the Kailiawa family and fresh vegetables all grown on Olson Trust and Hester lands in Ka`u. 

Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya performed hula,
accompanied by Keoki Kahumoku.

“NOT TOO OFTEN DO YOU FIND ME SPEECHLESS, but this finds me close to that,” said state Rep. Bob Herkes during the ceremonies. He praised the Olson Trust for building the mill for local coffee farmers to process their beans and save the time and cost of driving them to Kona and Hilo mills. Herkes descends from a great-grandfather who came to Hawai`i from Scotland in 1898 and built the first water pipe in Ka`u. “Not a flume, a water pipe, and it was made of wood,” he said. Herkes applauded Edmund C. Olson for “taking abandoned sugar cane lands and putting the people back on the ground, working in agriculture.”

County Council member Brittany Smart and state Senator
Gil Kahele promote Ka`u Coffee.

SEN. GIL KAHELE told the people attending the event that he promotes Ka`u Coffee every chance he can, serving it at his office in the state Legislature and displaying a Ka`u Coffee Mill bag on the wall for everyone to see when they enter his office. He said he has followed the plight of displaced sugar workers from the closing of the sugar company to their journey starting their small coffee farms. 

     He said Ka`u is a special place to him, that his uncle was a fisherman and his grandmother was from Hilea and Honu`apo and that he spent summers here as a child and became good friends with Thomas Kailiawa. He said he is so proud to see the success of Kailiawa’s son Bull and noted that Ka`u has the top-rated coffee in the United States. Kahele described Olson as a “good guy” for investing capital in the economic development of Ka`u.

COUNTY COUNTY MEMBER BRITTANY SMART praised Ed Olson and the coffee farmers for all their hard work the last 15 years since the sugar plantation shut down.

Kathleen Kam autographed cards bearing her artwork.

KA`U COFFEE MILL is also a place of art, and Kathleen Kam was noted for her original murals of the land, the wildlife and the people of Ka`u. Two murals are completed in the visitor center, and another one is in progress. Four paintings of native birds are on display. A giclee print of Ka`u Coffee with nene, the Hawaiian state bird, was presented to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park supervisor Cindy Orlando to be placed in the regional headquarters of the National Park Service in San Francisco. Graphic Artist Tanya Ibarra was recognized for developing the Ka`u Coffee Mill logo. The Pahala Plantation House crew, under the direction of artist Kathleen Kam, created a sculpture of locally grown vegetables for display. Local woodworker Michael Worthington created koa cabinetry for the visitor center, and the crew from sister company Hamakua Macadamia Nuts designed the retail space. The coffee mill visitor center will be open to the public within a month.

Ed Olson presented a giclee print of
Nene & Ka`u Coffee to Cindy Orlando.

A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT using water at the old Keaiwa reservoir was described at the opening of the Ka`u Coffee Mill yesterday. The water would drop down the mountain, and its energy would power an electric turbine to make electricity for the coffee mill and macadamia nut husking mill. It could also power up about 400 homes, according to manager John Cross, who said he also hopes to sell the power to Hawaiian Electric Light Company, particularly since Pahala is so isolated from the utility’s other electric generating plants.

A RED CODE FOR sulfur dioxide coming from Kilauea volcano was issued this morning for at least an hour. The red advisory states that “everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. It recommends that sensitive people avoid outdoor activities and remain indoors, that people feeling effects consider leaving the area and that everyone else avoid outdoor activities that cause heavy breathing or breathing through the mouth. There was a less serious orange alert for five hours this morning. The wind came up just before 9 a.m., and the air quality went back to good.

Keiki visit with donkeys packing Ka`u Coffee.

VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH continues with guided hikes most days. Today’s hike into Kilauea Iki Crater begins at 1 p.m. at Kilauea Iki Overlook parking lot on Crater Rim Drive. Hikers hear the story of Kilauea’s dramatic 1959 eruption in this four‐mile, three-hour hike across the still‐steaming crater floor. For more information about Volcano Awareness month events, visit hvo.wr.usgs.gov. 

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S group exhibit celebrating Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s centennial continues through Feb. 19. Entitled Observation/Inspiration, this multimedia exhibit features artists who gather inspiration from the volcanic activity at Kilauea and highlight the ever-changing appearance of the volcano.

ALSO FOR HVO’S CENTENNIAL, volcanologist Frank Trusdell discusses Mauna Loa’s eruptive history and current status at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium. $2 donations support park programs. Park entrance fees apply for events in the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.