Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014

Individuals can still sign up to participate in Pahala Christmas Parade a week from today on Sunday, Dec. 14. Pahala Preschool rode in the parade last year. Photo by Julia Neal

CONGRESSWOMAN TULSI GABBARD HAS JOINED a group of bipartisan colleagues to call attention to significant policy provisions that were inserted into the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 without a vote or serious debate. The annual defense bill includes a two-year extension of the authority to equip and train so-called moderate Syrian rebels.


Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

      “It is absolutely unacceptable to include an open-ended policy of arming and training so-called ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels in the NDAA without any serious public debate or a standalone vote,” said Gabbard, a twice-deployed veteran who has repeatedly criticized the strategy to arm Syrian rebels. “Giving weapons and training to these rebels whose stated purpose is to overthrow President Assad will have lengthy and costly consequences because it continues the broken policy of overthrowing regimes and nation-building that has cost so many precious lives and our nation’s treasure, drawing us into another country’s civil war. I voted against this provision on Sept. 17, when the Administration promised Congress would be able to reassess this strategy in December 2014. To the contrary, Congress has had no opportunity to discuss, debate, or vote on this standalone question. There is no reason to bury this issue in a major must-pass annual defense bill that includes critical provisions for our military’s readiness and our troops’ well-being. We must have a standalone vote so the American people’s voice can be heard.

      “Congress cannot continue to offer tacit support for a strategy that does not support achieving our mission of destroying ISIL and the Islamic extremists who seek to harm us. By continuing to funnel weapons to rebels in Syria, whose vetting and loyalties are questionable and untested, we face the likely outcome of our weapons falling into the hands of our enemies yet again, to be used against Americans and innocent civilians.”
      Gabbard joined a bipartisan letter led to Speaker John Boehner reiterating these concerns about the Syria train-and-equip provisions inserted into the NDAA agreement.

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Sen. Mazie Hirono

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES’ merger with NextEra Energy is receiving widespread reaction. In its announced last week, HEI said NextEra is supportive of its plans “to enhance Hawai`i’s energy future by lowering electric bills, giving customers more service options and nearly tripling the amount of distributed solar, while achieving among the nation’s highest levels of renewable energy by 2030.” 

      HEI called NextEra “one of the nation’s largest and most well-respected electric utilities” and “North America’s largest producer of renewable energy from the wind and sun.”
      The announcement is “profound and historic for Hawai`i,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono. “Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. is well established in this community, and the decision to combine with NextEra Energy, Inc. … deserves careful scrutiny on behalf of Hawai`i consumers and residents. I look forward to meeting with HEI and NextEra leaders to hear how Hawai`i can lead in clean energy and protect the interests of the customer.”
      Richard Ha, owner of Hamakua Springs Country Farms and a proponent of geothermal energy, said the merger “will be very good for Hawai`i,” on his blog at hahaha.hamakuasprings.com.
      “NextEra has the balance sheet and other resources to support significant investment in Hawai`i’s transmission and distribution system to enable much higher levels of renewable energy sources,” Ha said. “Most of all, this change in ownership of our electrical utility will finally make much needed new and different approaches possible. What we all want is a lower cost of electricity.
      “We are unique on the Big Island. Beside solar, wind and biofuels, we have proven geothermal. Once it’s developed, geothermal wants to run 100 percent of the time, and the more it runs, the cheaper it is to the ratepayers.

Richard Ha

      “What if we guaranteed the geothermal developer, say, 25 megawatts, and put no restriction on generating electricity for hydrogen manufacturing over and above the 25 megawatts. If, for instance, the geothermal company installed a 30-megawatt generator, they could sell 25 megawatts to the utility and sell the excess five megawatts cheap to make hydrogen. That would solve our liquid transportation problem, via hydrogen fuel cells, and we could make nitrogen fertilizer so as not to be dependent on petroleum byproducts. That’s only one example of what we could do with new thinking.
      “This sale is an unexpected but very interesting turn of events. We welcome NextEra.”
      Henry Curtis, director of Life of the Land, which promotes sound energy and land use, expresses skepticism. On his blog at ililanimedia.blogspot.com, he says NextEra’s subsidiary, Florida Power and Light, “is not a renewable, energy-efficiency paradise.”
      Curtis cites FPL’s Ten-Year Power Plant Site Plan 2014-2023, which shows 0.139 percent of its power being generated by solar in 2013, with that increasing to 0.145 percent by 2023.
      He also cites an article in the current issue of Sierra Club Magazine claiming that FPL “recently petitioned its state’s public service commission to reduce its efficiency goal to two one-thousandths of one percent.” 

Henry Curtis

      While FPL’s 10-year plan includes “a number of conservation/energy efficiency and load management initiatives,” David Guest, managing attorney for Florida’s Earthjustice office, said in the Tampa Tribune that “this summer, FPL abruptly yanked its rebate program that offered $1,000 back to customers who installed solar water heaters.”
      Guest said the energy-efficiency programs that the utilities do offer “unfairly apply to high-end homeowners. The majority of low-income people, who are most in need of a break on their monthly power bills, don’t get affordable incentives to make their homes more energy efficient.”
      According to Curtis, Robert Harris, Hawai`i representative of The Alliance for Solar Choic, said, “NextEra is very supportive of renewable energy that they own, they control and they can sell.”

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HAWAIIAN VALUES, CULTURE, TALENT AND FOOD are celebrated today at the annual Makahiki held at Punalu`u Beach Park with everyone invited. Local bands volunteer, and free food is served up both days, with many people camping out.

DARREN GOODMAN GLASS EXHIBIT opens tomorrow and continues through Saturday, Dec. 20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.

KA`U FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT RALPH GASTON invites members and prospective member to it meeting tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Hawai`i Farm Bureau Federation is a nonprofit organization of farming families united for the purpose of analyzing problems and formulating action to ensure the future of agriculture thereby promoting the well-being of farming and the state’s economy. 

      On its website at hfbf.org, the organization states, “Our guiding policies originate at the grassroots County Farm Bureau level with the ideas, opinions and contributions of our concerned membership. We encourage the participation of every member and try to have open communication with them through our annual convention, county meetings and our monthly newsletter. Policies are adopted after discussion at our county and state meetings.”

Santa returns to Hana Hou for the annual Keiki Christmas
Party Wednesday. Photo by Julia Neal

HANA HOU RESTAURANT’S KEIKI CHRISTMAS party is coming up Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. in Na`alehu. The event features gifts for keiki, food for everyone and a visit from Santa. 

PAHALA CHRISTMAS PARADE IS A WEEK from today on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. Floats, walking groups, tractors and classic cars, choirs, public officials, schools and more wind their way through Pahala from the armory to the hospital and to Holy Rosary Church for refreshments. Everyone is welcome. To sign up, call 928-0808.

KA`U SCHOOL OF THE ARTS OFFERS a free Christmas Concert after Pahala Christmas Parade. The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday Dec. 14 at Pahala Plantation House, featuring Ka`u `Ohana Band, Halau Hula O Ka `Imina Na`auao Kahiko and a sing-along with Ka`u Community Chorus. Potluck refreshments are welcome.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.swf.

Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014

Ka`u residents can participate in Palm Trail Hike at Kahuku tomorrow morning. The guided hike crosses the 1868 lava flow and provides one of the most panoramic views Kahuku has to offer. Photo from NPS

SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ HAS CO-AUTHORED a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to immediately submit a proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force for Congressional consideration regarding military actions against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Sen. Brian Schatz

      “While we must take action to combat the threat posed by ISIL, we do not believe that you possess sufficient authority to undertake the current U.S. military campaign against ISIL,” the letter states. “In addition, we are extremely concerned that the current operation lacks measurable goals, benchmarks of success and a clear scope.
      “We were encouraged by your recent statements welcoming a new AUMF for the conflict with ISIL. However, we also believe you have the responsibility to make a case to the American people for war, and a vital step in this process is the submission of a formal AUMF to Congress. This action allows Congress to properly evaluate a President’s vision and strategy for combat operations and fosters the critical debate that the American public deserves. You last submitted a draft AUMF in 2013 when you sought authority to launch airstrikes in connection with the conflict in Syria, which provoked an important debate in Congress and gave the American people the opportunity to voice their concerns.
      “Additionally, taking military action without an AUMF tailored to ISIL puts the United States at risk of repeating the mistakes of the past and becoming bogged down in an open-ended conflict… .
      “ISIL is a group of barbaric terrorists, and their extreme tactics, like the abhorrent and tragic beheadings of innocent Americans, display a shocking brutality that must be confronted. That is why we do support you using American leadership to help build an international coalition that both provides military assistance to confront this terrorist threat and helps build an inclusive and unified Iraqi government that has the capacity to be a strong partner in counterterrorism efforts against this terrorist group. However, U.S. military operations must be authorized by Congress. We are hopeful that we can work together to uphold our responsibility to the American people and have a more serious debate about America's military operations against ISIL.”
      The full letter is available at http://www.baldwin.senate.gov/press-releases/senators-baldwin-schatz-call-for-isil-aumf.

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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

REP. TULSI GABBARD PRAISED unanimous passage of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4329). The bill seeks to empower Native communities by assisting low-income families with affordable housing. 

      “Over 1,400 low-income families in Hawai`i have benefited from these services and, in many cases, homeownership would not have been possible given the $640,000 median price of a single-family home on the island of O`ahu,” Gabbard said in a speech to the House of Representatives.
      “Nationwide, passage of this legislation also would represent an important step toward removing roadblocks to economic success in Native communities, and would reaffirm the House’s long-standing commitment to tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”
      NAHASDA-supported activities include home construction, roads, sewers, street lighting and utilities; direct loans to income-eligible families; subsidies for home rehabilitation; home repair training; financial counseling; and support for nonprofits who provide self-help home construction.
      The Department of Hawaiian Homelands uses the NAHASDA funds to manage a trust established by Congress to support Native Hawaiians through homesteading.

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KILAUEA IS A MOODY VOLCANO, report Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists is the current issue of Volcano Watch. The issue describes the effusive and explosive nature of Kilauea. “One mood is violent and explosive, the other relentless and effusive — almost a dual personality,” the article states. “The explosive mood caused the fatalities in 1790, and the effusive mood produced lava flows that disrupted society in the 15th, 19th, 20th and now the 21st centuries.

Kilauea Caldera, currently about 400 feet deep,
has been at least 2,000 feet deep in the past.
Photo by Peter Anderson

      “How can Kilauea experience such different moods? Its behavior has to do with the presence of a deep depression — a caldera — at the summit. Visitors today peer into the caldera, not realizing its importance in determining whether Kilauea erupts explosively or effusively. They can be excused, because the caldera today is only a shadow of its former self. At a depth of 400 feet, it is only 20 percent or less of its past depth of at least 2,000 feet.
      “At its deepest, the floor of Kilauea Caldera intersects the water table, and groundwater can interact with hot magma and rocks forming the walls of the magma conduit. Water can’t get in when the conduit is filled with magma. But when the conduit has emptied for some reason, water can flow into it, flash to steam, build pressure if the conduit becomes temporarily plugged by wall collapse, and finally explode. Explosions can also occur if magma erupts through a lake on the floor of the caldera. 

      “In Kilauea’s past 2,500 years, such a deep caldera has apparently existed about 60 percent of the time, leading to two long periods of sporadic violent explosions. One lasted 1,200 years, ending in about 1000 CE; the other lasted 300 years between 1500 and 1800 CE. Tragedies such as that in 1790 can occur during these periods.
      “Studies show that a deep caldera forms and persists when the magma supply rate to the volcano drops to only a few percent of its value during times of effusive activity. Frequent explosions are the ultimate result. Eventually magma supply picks up, the caldera fills, and effusive eruptions dominate, as they have for 40 percent of the past 2,500 years, most recently for the past 200 years.
      “Both of Kilauea’s moods have good and bad sides. In the explosive mood, the explosions take place in the caldera and can threaten life within a radius of several kilometers. The hazard is severe but local to the summit. However, falling ash can be disagreeable many kilometers away, and airborne ash from future large explosive eruptions will threaten air traffic. Such explosive periods last decades to centuries and could create economic hardship around the summit and beyond. On the other hand, ash falls contribute to soil fertility. Former settlements on Kilauea’s barren south coast were made possible by pockets of fertile ash.
      “In the effusive mood, the eruptions take place in the summit region and along the two rift zones. Potentially, lava flows can destroy or damage communities anywhere on the volcano. With few exceptions (for example, methane explosions and lava-delta collapses), the flows are not life-threatening but can be life-changing. Kilauea is in an effusive mood now, and people know that it can be unpleasant.
      “Active volcanoes are inherently unstable, uncertain places to live. Whether in an explosive or effusive mood, Kilauea will always present hazards to the populace. We should be realistic, but not fatalistic, about the situation. We can’t command Kilauea, but we can control our actions in the face of its hazards.”

      The full article and daily updates on Kilauea’s activity are available at hvo.wr.usgs.gov.

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The Goddess Festival at Tiki Mama continues until 5 p.m. today.
Photo from hovefun.com

THE ANNUAL MAKAHIKI that celebrates Hawaiian values, culture, talent and food continues today and tomorrow at Punalu`u Beach Park with everyone invited. Local bands volunteer, and free food is served up both days, with many people camping out. 

TIKI MAMA AND FRIENDS present the first annual Goddess Festival, a family fun event today until 5 p.m. The event features art, music, food, dance, vendors and craft activities for children. Entrance fee is a can of food for the food bank. Call 939-9817 for more information.

VOLCANO ART CENTER PRESENTS a visual sound movement performance and art collaboration today at 6:30 p.m. at its Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Dance performers are Shizuno Nasu, Jenn Eng and Rieko Inoue. Sound and music is by Joe Okuda. Art includes painting by Susumu Sakaguchi and sculpture by Stephen Freedman.
      Tickets are $12 for VAC members and $15 for non-members. Call 967-8222.

VOLCANO FESTIVAL CHORUS OFFERS its annual gift to the community today at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. KDEN presents old favorites and modern arrangements. Free; park entrance fees apply.

Volcano Art Center presents an exhibit of glass by Darren Goodman
beginning Monday. Photo from VAC

PALM TRAIL HIKE AT KAHUKU UNIT of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This moderately difficult 2.6-mile loop trail provides one of the best panoramic views Kahuku has to offer. 985-6011 or nps.gov/havo 

DARREN GOODMAN GLASS EXHIBIT opens Monday and continues through Saturday, Dec. 20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.

KA`U FARM BUREAU MEETS MONDAY at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.

HANA HOU RESTAURANT’S KEIKI CHRISTMAS party is coming up Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. in Na`alehu. The event features gifts for keiki, food for everyone and a visit from Santa.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.swf.

Ka`u News Briefs Friday, Dec. 5, 2014

Pete Licata pours Ka`u Coffee at the 2012 Ka`u Coffee Festival. Will Tabios, at left, won Specialty Coffee Association of
America's Coffee of the Year in 2012. Photo by Julia Neal

TWO AREA PROJECTS WON ENDORSEMENTS last night at Ka`u Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting held at Gilligan’s Cafe in Discovery Harbour. One is funding of a second potable water well in Ocean View, which would allow business expansion and a school. The second is endorsement of a zoning variance that would allow for the Heritage Center of Ka`u, which would be constructed on a 15-acre dry land forest makai of Highway 11 that would serve as a gateway visitor center on the Kona side of Ocean View.

Zachary DeBernardi's banjo `ukulele and Sigrid Genoux's accordion with the Last
Fling Band play at Christmas gigs throughout Ka`u. Photo by Julia Neal

      Like much of Ocean View, including most house lots and business locations, the zoning where Ho`omalu Ka`u would build the Heritage Center of Ka`u is Agriculture.
      Lehua Lopez Mau made the call for Chamber endorsement of the zoning variance and also asked for community donations to the nonprofit Ho`omalu group, which is accepting funding, as well as artifacts, maps and documents that would be archived at the Heritage Center of Ka`u. She said that biological and archaeological surveys have been completed for the land adjacent to Manuka Natural Area Reserve and mauka of South Kona Wilderness Area. The Chamber voted to support the variance by the county Planning Commission and Planning Department to allow structures and parking.
      A second potable water well plan was presented by Chamber board member Rell Woodward. He said Ocean View Community Development Corp. and a community committee are soliciting support for the state release of $725,000 that was approved by the Legislature. The proposal calls for release of the funding directly to the county Department of Water Supply, which could oversee the project and cut through red tape for a more timely completion.
      According to OVCDC and the community committee, water would help support the planned Ka`u Learning Academy and other possible schools, the existing commercial area and proposed Lehua Court. It would support firefighting, dilution of high salt content in the current well and irrigation of the county Kahuku Park.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Lucy Rogge on autoharp with the Last Fling Band.
Photo by Julia Neal

LAST FLING IS THE BAND who played Christmas music for the annual meeting of Ka`u Chamber of Commerce last night at Gilligan’s Cafe. Instruments ranged from Zachary DeBernardi’s banjo `ukulele and Sigrid Genoux’s accordion to autoharp, trumpet, drums, bells, baratone `ukulele, standard `ukulele, wash tub bass, electric bass and piano.

     The eldest member of Last Fling is 83. Musicians must be at least 60 years of age to join and either play or want to play an instrument. The motto is "You don’t get out until you die." The Last Fling band has been together since the early 1970s. Last Fling plays next at the `O Ka`u Kakou Christmas Party this weekend.

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HAWAI`I COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSIONS are considering changing the approval process for Planned Unit Developments. Currently, only the Planning director has to approve PUDs, and public notice follows the decisions. Decisions can be overturned by the Board of Appeals and the Third Circuit Court.
     Bill 281 calls for the Planning Commission that holds jurisdiction over the area where properties for which applications are sought to be responsible for review and approval of the application. Public notices and hearings would be required.
      Lands where the famous Moa`ula and Pear Tree Ka`u Coffee farms are located were set up for subdivision as a PUD several years ago, the decision made by the former county Planning director without public hearing or consideration by the Planning Commissions or County Council. The subdivision has not been carried out, but the potential is part of the marketing of the land, which has been put up for sale by Lehman Brothers Holdings, which foreclosed on former developers there. The coffee farmers, who have developed the Ka`u Coffee industry there for nearly two decades, no longer have leases and could lose their farms if the land is subdivided and sold off. The proposed PUD at Moa`ula and Pear Tree calls for many lots smaller than 20 acres for which the property is zoned, leaving the gulches and mountainsides and some other non-coffee land in bigger parcels.

An aerial view of Ka`u Coffee lands that are subject to PUD subdivision.
 Photo from kaucoffeeandranchlands.com

      The initial intent of the PUD was to make for better planning by avoiding simple cookie cutter developments. However, PUDs are sometimes used by developers to obtain smaller, more desirable lots for estates and houses. One thousand acres zoned for 20-acre agriculture lots, for example, could be subdivided into 50 ag lots. With a PUD, the procedure is to place unbuildable land, such as steep hillsides and gulches, in one large parcel, leaving other lots smaller than the 20 acres for which the property is zoned. A 1,000-acre parcel zoned Ag-20 could possibly be subdivided into one 500-acre lot with cliffs and streams and 49 other flat lots 10.2 acres each. PUD use by developers has often been to maximize the number of small lots that can be obtained out of a large agricultural parcel. Some proposals have attempted to maximize beachfront lots for estates by making one large lot in the most mauka section of the property and putting the smaller, often skinny, long houselots under 20 acres near the shoreline.
      The Windward Planning Commission endorsed the bill to require Planning Commission review and public hearings with reservations yesterday, and the Leeward Planning Commission will consider it on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. at West Hawai`i Civic Center.

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Hawai`i Wildlife Fund held a Ka`u Coast Cleanup last month. The next one
is on Feb. 7. Photos from HWF

THIRTY-FIVE PEOPLE HELPED HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND pull 3,158 pounds of trash off the beach during its last cleanup event on Nov. 15. The cleanup spanned 1.2 miles of coastline from Pa`akea, south of Ka`alu`alu Bay, to Kamilo Point. HWF estimates that 1,158 pounds of miscellaneous debris was collected in 57 trashbags, including two bags of microplastics and several bags of hard plastics for recycling. At the same time, another 2,000 pounds of derelict fishing nets were collected. 

      Interesting finds included two intact light bulbs, including a one-meter-long fluorescent bulb, and an old-school glass 7-up bottle with soda still in it.
      The date for the next Ka`u Community Coastal Cleanup event is set for Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015. RSVP to kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com to hold a spot in a vehicle.

Pete Licata with Lori Obra, of Rusty's 100 Percent
Hawaiian Ka`u Coffee, during the Boston event
when he took the national U.S. Barista
title again. Photo by Julia Neal

      HWF asks Ka`u residents to continue voting for the nonprofit during Subaru Hawai`i’s fourth community-based Share the Love sales campaign through Dec. 31. At the end of the campaign, Subaru Hawai`i will award one of five nonprofit organizations with the most votes an additional $5,000. The company is donating $250 for each new 2014 or 2015 Subaru vehicle sold. Vote at https://www.facebook.com/SubaruHI.

      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

PETE LICATA, WHO HELPED PUT RUSTY’S 100 Percent Hawaiian Ka`u Coffee on the international barista stage, is the subject of a segment on a new CNN television show called Somebody’s Gotta Do It. A portion of the segment can be seen online at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/us/original-series-mike-rowe-somebodys-gotta-do-it/index.html. Click on Mike Rowe: Coffee pro. The episode airs Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 4 p.m.
     During U.S. and international barista championships where Licata has taken first place, Licata has talked about staying in Ka`u, helping to farm and picking the coffee he used in competition. Licata won the U.S. Barista Championship in 2011 with Rusty’s Hawaiian and was accompanied by R. Miguel Meza, of Isla Coffee and Rusty’s Hawaiian, for the world championships in Bogota, Colombia. Licata has led the Ka`u Coffee Experience at the annual Ka`u Coffee Festival. 

     Licata also took first place in the 2013 United States Barista Championship in Boston at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s convention. Competitors showed off their skills in making four espressos, four cappuccinos and four original signature drinks of their own creation – all within 15 minutes.

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KOHALA PERFORMS A HOLIDAY CONCERT tonight at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Advance $15 tickets are available at Volcano Kilauea Kreations, Kilauea General Store and Kilauea Kreations II in Hilo. $20 at the door.

Li`i Kaluna with coconut hats made at one
of the earlier Makahiki. Photo by Julia Neal

THE ANNUAL MAKAHIKI that celebrates Hawaiian values, culture, talent and food takes place this evening, Saturday and Sunday at Punalu`u Beach Park with everyone invited. Local bands volunteer, and free food is served up both Saturday and Sunday, with many people camping out. Hawaiian crafts, including weaving coconut frond hats, are among the cultural practices that have been featured over the many years of the Makahiki. 

TIKI MAMA AND FRIENDS present the first annual Goddess Festival, a family fun event. Featuring art, music, food, dance, vendors and craft activities for children, the celebration is tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entrance fee is a can of food for the food bank. Call 939-9817 for more information. 

VOLCANO ART CENTER PRESENTS a visual sound movement performance and art collaboration tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at its Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Dance performers are Shizuno Nasu, Jenn Eng and Rieko Inoue. Sound and music is by Joe Okuda. Art includes painting by Susumu Sakaguchi and sculpture by Stephen Freedman.
      Tickets are $12 for VAC members and $15 for non-members. Call 967-8222.

VOLCANO FESTIVAL CHORUS OFFERS its annual gift to the community tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. KDEN presents old favorites and modern arrangements.

HANA HOU RESTAURANT’S KEIKI CHRISTMAS party is coming up Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. in Na`alehu. The event features gifts for keiki, food for everyone and a visit from Santa.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.swf.