Gray skies followed me, as I drove into Hilo this morning, my first time to visit the Kinoole Farmers Market. I had heard about it through the coconut wireless for years, but living in Puna, I have mostly frequented farmers markets closer to my area.

It was 8 am and it had begun to rain as I pulled into 1990 Kinoole St,the paved parking lot of the State Unemployment Office. There was already a bustling crowd of customers at this little farmers market adorned with various styles of colorful tent canopies (sellers provide their own) full of fruits, vegetables, plants and prepared food products. My first impression was that it felt very clean and fresh, busy but not crowded, and very easy parking, a perfect neighborhood market.

I found Rusty Perry, one of the founders and the current manager of the Kinoole Farmer’s Market. He explained that this market is a cooperative partnership of three partners/owner : Hilo County Farm Bureau, Hamakua County Farm Bureau and Kohala County Farm Bureau. All are local chapters of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation (HFBF) which helps promote Hawaii’s agriculture through various venues such as farmers’ markets. The three partners hui (work together)to run this farmers’ market which began at this site in August, 2007. As with all new business ventures, it took awhile to kick in and get a consistency of vendors and customers showing up. But show up they did, and going on three years later, eighteen to twenty four vendors set up from 6:30 am to noon, each Saturday morning, to an eager crowd of customers, rain or shine!

While the vendors provide their own canopies, the Kinoole Farmers’ Market hui ( group) sets up a 20 x 40 tent canopy in the center of the market area as open space. Under the tent, every week from 9am to 10 am people join in to practice qi gong. Qi gong music played, emanating a peaceful quality to the market atmosphere. Later from 10 am- 11 am, sometimes a guest speaker is scheduled to talk about a food-farmer related subject. Today, two speakers gave their presentations. One was about Natural Farming Methods practiced in Korea. The other speaker gave a power point presentation on his design of the ‘Hubble Bubble’ an efficient and inexpensive chicken coop. I observed twenty or more people gathered under the tent listening attentively to both presentations, with many sticking around afterward for further discussion. I could feel here, what is happening nation wide and internationally, that more and more people are searching out information and others of like mind who want to grow their own food and or raise animals for food. A couple, I talked to there, said the educational talks were the reason they come to this market. I thought this was an wonderful venue to bring the vendor/ farmer/customer together in a fun learning environment, in the midst of food, flowers, plants and a beautiful day.

Rusty said he sends out a blast email each Thursday prior to the Saturday’s market, to everyone who submitted their email for notification of the Kinoole’s Farmers’ Market specials and programs. Anyone wanting to add their email to his notification list can reach him by email dperry@papayas.net
He also said they are always interested in more vendors. All the vendors who participate in this market follow the guidelines set up by the hui (group).

1-all vendors products must be grown or produced in Hawaii State
2-only fresh food, prepared food and plants are eligible for sale at this market

All new vendors must be reviewed and passed by a screening committee to verify that their products are locally produced.

I gave out my whosyourfarmer.info book markers and bumper stickers to anyone who was interested.
Several people (14) filled out my surveys and three of those people agreed to a personal interview. Again I felt this second time out with my surveys showed a good response and people expressed their enthusiasm for the subject matter. Only a few people declined to participate in the survey because they were in a rush.
After a few hours I ended up sitting on some benches provided under the main tent area, ‘ talking story’ with people about food, chickens independent study.

While I was there primarily to distribute my surveys and see what was happening, I was enticed by the diversity and good quality of the products I saw. I soon filled my basket with fresh veggies and a snack to munch on. .

As noon rolled around, the hum of the market had quieted. The sellers tents and their products that remained were slowly packed away in their vehicles. I stowed my veggies and headed home vowing to venture this way again some Saturday morning.

I plan to visit more Farmer’s/Open Markets around Hawaii Island by mid April, adding to the diversity of market customers I ask to fill out my survey. This also affords me the opportunity to experience markets I’ve not been to before or not for a long time and get a feel what is unique about each one, what each one has to offer.