Author Archives: layout@themolokaidispatch.com

Apply for Made in Maui County Festival

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023

Maui Chamber of Commerce News Release 

The Hawaiian Airlines Made in Maui County Festival, a highly anticipated celebration of local craftsmanship and community pride, reminds local manufacturers and potential vendors to seize the opportunity and apply now for participation in its monumental 10th annual event. With limited space available, this two-day festival offers a platform like no other to showcase products, connect with wholesale buyers, engage with customers, and experience the unwavering support of the Maui County community.

Past attendees of the Hawaiian Airlines Made in Maui County Festival have consistently praised the significant impact this event has had on their business.…

Mural Erased

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023

Mural Erased

Healing comes in so many ways, the levels are countless as you try to help yourself make any sense of it all. Losing a loved one is a hard one, feeling hopeless about the struggles and disasters in the world is another hard one. We all have a right to ourselves to find ways of coping with grief and my family finds it in art. When we look at art which brings happy memories, the healing continues, day after day until you can smile again. 

Well, my family just lost their dad. God help us, as we are taking it very hard. …

Disappointing Services

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023

To recap a previous community letter, we, the people of Molokai, used to have a ferry that traveled to/from Maui twice daily, and we used to have services from three different airlines. Since February 2021, our only means of off island travel is via Mokulele Airlines/Southern Airways for medical, business, family, recreation travels.  (And some have access to private boats.)

It’s with great disappointment that Mokulele Airlines has not been dependable in providing reliable and consistent services.  We travel frequently each month for the reasons mentioned above, and we have a corporate account.  Too often our flights have been delayed, changed, or canceled. …

Golf Ace

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023

Golf Ace

Community Contributed

By Rick Schonely

Rick Schonely, retired Maui County firefighter, substitute teacher of the year and island musician, is the July Ace winner for the Hui O Kukui Golf Club. Schonely shot 41–39 for a gross score of 80 and with his 14 handicap his net 66 secured his victory. Congratulations Schonz!

The Hui O Kukui Golf Club would like to thank the staff and management of iconic Ironwood Hills Golf Course for perpetuating the game of golf on Molokai.…

Kawela-Kīpū Connection 500 Years Ago

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023

Community Contributed

By Marshall Weisler, Archaeologist

Stone adzes were vitally important to ancient Polynesians and every household had several sizes and shapes for a range of woodworking tasks. Not every rock is ideal for adze making so locations with fine-grained rock, known as quarries, were sought after from the earliest times. A small but important adze quarry is located three miles east of Kawela at Pu‘u Pāpa‘i. And rock from that quarry has an important story to tell.

First a little background. The Pu‘u Pāpa‘i quarry is unique in its “chemical signature” or its “rock DNA.” Rocks from different islands, and sometimes different volcanoes or even separate lava flows, can have a unique chemical composition.…

Live Like Tre’ Day

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

Live Like Tre’ Day

By Jack Kiyonaga, Reporter 

A community event on Molokai last Saturday celebrated the life and legacy of 24-year-old Maui County firefighter Tre’ Evans-Dumaran, who died earlier this year after responding to emergency calls during flash floods on Maui. The Molokai Live Like Tre’ Day is the last of three community events that took place on Maui, Hawaii Island and Molokai, hosted by the Live Like Tre’ Foundation. 

Dona Evans, Evans-Dumaran’s grandmother, explained that the day’s events were a way of honoring him within the different communities he was a part of. 

In addition to being stationed on Molokai for the first year of his firefighting career, Evans-Dumaran also had family on Molokai.…

Woman in Critical Condition Following Bakery Explosion

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

By Catherine Cluett Pactol | Editor

Molokai’s Cisilia Defang remains in critical condition as of Sunday, following an accident at Kanemitsu Bakery last week that left 70 percent of her body covered in second and third degree burns. 

Thirty-one-year-old Defang was born deaf and worked at the bakery for more than two years. Kanemitsu Bakery told KHON2 she was one of their best bakers, and her family said she loved her job.

On the evening of July 4, she was working to prepare bread for the next day and turned on the gas stove around 8 p.m., according to the bakery. …

County Mapping Molokai’s Wetlands

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

By Jack Kiyonaga, Reporter 

Maui County is seeking to protect wetlands across the county, and to do that, it needs to know where they’re located. In response to a recently passed ordinance, the county is in the process of creating a new map of wetlands on Molokai. 

“The purpose [of the map] is to protect and restore wetlands. You cannot protect and restore something if you don’t know where it is,” explained Shahin Ansari, an ecologist contracted by the county for the project. 

Ansari explained that the new map will offer the public a “functional perspective on a wetland.” 

The project was started in March 2023 and is slated to finish in October of this year.…

Free Summer Concert

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

Free Summer Concert

Honolulu Youth Symphony News Release 

The Honolulu Youth Symphony (HYO) and the Pacific Music Institute (PMI) Teaching Fellows will be performing at the St. Damien’s Church on Friday, July 14 at 6 p.m. Earlier in the day, a private performance will also be provided to the kupuna residents of Home Pumehana.  

Two musicians, Yani Quemado and Daniel Guevara, will be visiting Hawaii Youth Symphony’s Pacific Music Institute from July 7 to 16, which is being held in Honolulu for students in middle and high school. Yani and Daniel attended the National Orchestral Institute in College Park, Maryland this summer, and were selected to join PMI as teaching fellows.…

Teoraroa at San Jose Tahiti Fete

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023

Teoraroa at San Jose Tahiti Fete

Community Contributed

By Kilia Purdy-Avelino

Molokai’s only pupu ‘ori, or Tahitian dance halau, Teoraroa Molokai, was represented by a small group of dancers and musicians in their debut on a stage known as the largest Tahiti Fete in the U.S. in San Jose, California on Friday, June 30. Teoraroa Molokai had three soloists, and a spectacular ahuroa on Saturday, July 1. The Molokai group accompanying Kumu Chelsea Lima-Tanaka to San Jose, consisted of seven vahine dancers and four musicians. 

With less than a year of dancing together — and for most, their first time learning Tahitian ‘ori (dance — the purpose of their entrance was not foremost for the competition, but a tribute to the late Kalen Isamu Tanaka, father of Chelsea and Kalene Tanaka.…