LIHUE — The Grove Farm market manager on duty Saturday said the hurricane came by on Monday, but the farmers market still opened on schedule.
“They said we didn’t have to come,” said Elena Camat of Gourmet Kauai Pretzels. “We can come only if we want. But traffic is slow since people don’t know if we’re open or not.”
Most of the vendors suffered some damages from Hurricane Lowell’s brush with Kauai, but has sufficient recovered goods to allow opening.
The Anahola Sugarloaf Pineapple farm had little damage to its pineapple crops. However, the rambutan and longan fruits were damaged.
Across the way, Da Wicked Brew had loaned their generators to relatives that needed to power refrigerators and only got the machines back in time to roll their food truck style trailer to Puhi.
Laurie Ho, president of the Kauai County Farm Bureau, announced via text that the Pau Hana Market — held each Monday from 3 p.m. at the Kukui Grove Center parking lot near Times Supermarket — will be open.
Additionally, The Kauai Culinary Market at The Shops in Kukuiula in Poipu will be open on Wednesday, starting at 3:30 p.m.
“We wanted to share that Kukui Grove is open, and has power,” Daphne Halverson, the marketing and specialty leasing manager said in an email. “Some of our stores and restaurants are open, but have modified hours. We kindly request for your safety to avoid any areas that are blocked as we are still in the process of repairing and cleaning up debris. Let’s support one another and keep Kauai strong.”
Krystal Hackett of Slow Island Provisions by Slow Island Co. said she’ll be participating at both the Pau Hana Market and The Kauai Culinary Market.
Ferdinand Dosono of Kauai Kim Chee said he’ll probably have Bruddah can Bake pastries for the Pau Hana Market since his son Isaiah had to get rid of all his food due to the power outage, and couldn’t make pizza.
“Times like these can be especially difficult for small businesses,” said Donovan Claytor, owner of Kauai Chickens in Koloa in an email. “When you shop with us, your purchase stays in our community and helps support our employees, their families, and the future of our business. Your continued support means more to us than you know.”
