Episode 33: All Things Kona Coffee Festival
This month, Tom shares why the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival means so much to our family and our community. It’s a way to recognize the people, history, and hard work behind every harvest. At Greenwell Farms, we’ve been part of this tradition for generations, and we’re proud to see it continue. We invite you to sit down with a cup of coffee and hear Tom’s thoughts on what makes this time of year so meaningful here in Kona.
[00:00:05] Hey, good morning everybody. I’m Matt, from Greenwell Farms here with our CEO Tom Greenwell. Morning, Tom.
[00:00:10] Good morning.
[00:00:10] How’s the coffee this morning?
[00:00:12] Great. Fantastic.
[00:00:12] Good. Now, it’s November and that means it’s the peak of harvest, but it’s also time for the Kuna Coffee Cultural Festival, right?
[00:00:21] Yeah.
[00:00:22] That’s starting, tomorrow, which is November 7th, and it’s gonna go to the following Sunday on the 16th. What’s your connection to the Kone Coffee Cultural Festival?
[00:00:34] My connection?
[00:00:34] Yeah.
[00:00:35] Well, it’s our festival. Right, and it’s been going on since what, 1970?
[00:00:43] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:00:43] It’s a big part of Kona. The only problem is it’s during the peak of the season.
[00:00:49] Right, right.
[00:00:50] So we’re all tired.
[00:00:52] Yeah. Now I heard, I’m trying to remember which year it was. It was maybe in the seventies. They tried to move it to February, because everyone’s busy in the fall. But nobody showed up.
[00:01:04] Yeah.
[00:01:04] And so they actually had to run it twice that year. So now it’s back to harvest season. Right?
[00:01:09] Yeah. You know, you got all the beautiful red cherries on the trees.
[00:01:12] Sure, for people visiting the farms, they get to see all the activity going on. You know, what type of events do you enjoy going to during the festival? ‘Cause there’s a lot of them.
[00:01:25] I try, you know, every year I go to different events. I just can’t make it to all of them.
[00:01:30] Sure,
[00:01:30] You know where every single department on the farm today is busy. So that’s always the hard part for…
[00:01:39] Right.
[00:01:39] The farmers. But you know. There’s new events all the time. This year there’s a pickleball tournament.
[00:01:45] Isn’t that funny?
[00:01:46] And I was asked to be someone’s partner.
[00:01:48] Oh, really? Really? You play pickleball?
[00:01:51] No.
[00:01:53] I see. Well, you know, we had a, someone approach us and asked if they could, you know, do this under the umbrella of the festival, and we like to bring the community together. So we thought it was a…
[00:02:02] Yeah, no.
[00:02:03] A good idea. But Greenwell Farms coffee will be there serving iced coffee, two pickleball players that need a little extra caffeine. There’s a recipe contest. You ever been to that one?
[00:02:14] Yep. Yep. Oh yeah.
[00:02:15] Yeah.
[00:02:17] You have some good friends that have always entered in it and won a few times.
[00:02:22] Excellent.
[00:02:23] Great food.
[00:02:24] And there’s a pageant. We crown a Miss Kona Coffee and a Miss Aloha Hawaii every year. You can’t call ’em Queens anymore. They’re title holders, but, it’s good. They represent for one year, the Kona Coffee Industry. Kind of excited about the art stroll this weekend. That’s a, real fun one. Yeah?
[00:02:43] That’s usually the kickoff. Yeah.
[00:02:45] Yeah.
[00:02:45] When everybody gets together. Yeah. Don’t drive through it if you’re just going through the island, right?
[00:02:53] It’s kind of like an artist community and they open all the galleries up and the owners are there. So you can talk to the artists and there’s thirty coffee farms that put out tables and there’s pastries and other things going on. But I just love the fact that you can sample thirty, a hundred percent Kona coffee side by side.
[00:03:08] Side. Yeah.
[00:03:09] And it really highlights their subtle differences. Yeah.
[00:03:12] No, it’s a, that’s a plan for three hours minimum. When you go, ’cause it’s a lot of lot going on.
[00:03:20] Now I want to tell you guys a secret. The festival artist this year is actually the wife of one of our employees. And where is that picture taken?
[00:03:28] That’s our hoshidana right up here that you get the tour when you come to the farm.
[00:03:33] So she actually got her inspiration from our drying decks. They call ’em hoshidana. And that’s, depicted here. And it’s just this gorgeous picture.
[00:03:40] Yeah.
[00:03:40] But she’s gonna be the festival artist and, that’s Lisa Greg, married to Kawena. So…
[00:03:46] Yeah.
[00:03:46] Kind of exciting this year. Well guys, if you want more information, it’s Kona Coffee Fest, F-E-S-T dot com. All the information’s there. Tom, thanks for your time this morning.
[00:03:56] Yeah, great.
[00:03:57] Guys, have an amazing Thanksgiving. Aloha.
[00:04:01]
