South Kohala – Page 5 – A Darker View

The Green Church

Waimea Cherry Blossom Festival

This weekend was Cherry Blossom Festival in Waimea!

There are a huge number of events, exhibits and vendors at multiple venues scattered across town. You really need to pick and choose what you want to see. In years past we had checked out the events at Parker Ranch Square or visited the historic Puʻu Opelu home at Parker Ranch. This year I started at church row, parking at Keck and walking over. The large lawn in front of the churches is really the center of the whole event, here are the cherry trees for which the festival is held.

Actually the cherry trees were at their best last week. We have been enjoying them, they are right next door to Keck. There were still a few trees in blossom for the festival. Everyone stopping to take a few photos of the blossoms. Even better, the notoriously fickle Waimea weather produced an absolutely glorious day for this year’s festival.

The first event I look for on the schedule is Taiko drumming! This island boasts several excellent Taiko groups and performances are always a treat. This year I caught Hui Okinawa Kobudo Taiko’s early performance at church row. A chance to enjoy the performance, take some great photos, and just feel the pounding of the drums pass through you. One set was a great Shishi Mai (lion-dog) performance, the dancers interacting with the crowd.

Hui Okinawa Kobudo Taiko performs at the 2015 Waimea Cherry Blossom Festival

Food is available in abundance. Traditional Japanese fare at the Hongwanji Mission, cooking demonstrations from local resturant and resort chefs, and local island favorites everywhere. No problem getting lunch. Well, there was one problem… making a choice!

I particularly enjoyed a bonsai exhibit, there were some gorgeous examples of the art. I also visited the Hongwanji Mission, a Buddhist temple of the Jōdo Shinshū school. The building is almost next door to Keck, but I had never given it much thought.

The only downside of the festival is the traffic. Half the island comes to Waimea for the day, the result is no parking, near gridlock on the main street, and crowds everywhere. As with most of these Waimea events, get there early!

Cherry Blossoms in Waimea

Mauna Kea Resort Sunset

Anna Ranch

Often overlooked by tourists driving around the island, Anna Ranch is very much worth the stop. A little piece of island history preserved as it was.

At the ranch the paniolo and ranching history of the Waimea area is preserved. The complex of buildings are the heart of a classic Hawaiian ranch. This was the headquarters of a large cattle operation for over a century.

If you catch one of the two daily tours you get to see the interior of the house and hear stories about the history of the ranch. The tour is really the best way to properly visit Anna ranch.

You will hear about the indomitable Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske who ran the ranch through much of the twentieth century. A horsewoman and cattle expert she successfully kept the family ranch profitable, creating the ranch you see today. It was her dream to see the ranch preserved as a heritage center. Now run by a non-profit organization the ranch is listed in the Hawaii State Register of Historic Places, and on the National Register of Historic Places.

After the tour you can roam the gardens and the short “Discovery Trail” that leads behind the buildings. Along the trail there are interpretive signs that provide another view into the history of the area. This includes a bit on a historic battle that occurred on the hills behind Waimea.

Unfortunately the smithy was not open for our visit. I have always enjoyed watching a blacksmith at work. Nothing like a forge and hot steel, one of the oldest technologies, to catch the fascination of an engineer like myself. I will have to stop in again some time.

The daily tours are conducted at 10am and again at 1pm. The cost is $10/person and reservations are highly recommended. You might find a spot on a tour at last minute, but do not count on it. Otherwise visiting the ranch is free, unless you stop in the little gift shop.

After so many years of driving past, I am glad we stopped in to see this gem of Waimea history.

Postcard from Hawai’i – The Gate

Waikoloa Sunburst

Sunbursts, rays and other similar features are common around Waikoloa. Sometimes they are worth stopping and shooting. You have seen this tree before, a nicely photogenic kiawe tree beside the road home.

Postcard from Hawai’i – Graveyard

Goat House Lava Tube

It is not really called Goat House. It is just that I have never heard another name, Goat House is what I have named the cave considering the lack of any better designation. The tube is no great secret, its existence is well known to longtime residents.

Goat Skull — A goat skull in the rubble at the entrance of Goat House Lava Tube

The grasslands around Waikoloa seem rather barren, useful only to the foraging cattle. Like the rest of the island these are old lava flows, and some not so very old. There are interesting volcanic features, including a number of hidden lava tubes.

This tube is found several miles out the power line road just above the village. The road starts across from the stables and heads straight south. There are side roads that go left and right, just go straight to the cave.

Along the way you find the mauka fence of the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative restoration effort. This fence keeps the goats out of a 275 acre area in an effort to preserve native trees like the Wiliwili. With some success it appears, the trees look pretty good. The wiliwili are strikingly beautiful trees, I am happy to see them thriving here.

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