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Culture & Art

Bennett Pottery Annual Show and Sale

Thursday, November 20th, 2025

Bennett Pottery News Release

Dan Bennett of Bennett Pottery will present his Annual Show and Sale open house from Monday, Nov. 24 to Monday, Dec. 8 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at his Kalaʻe Studio. 

The show will feature finely crafted high-fired functional stoneware and porcelain — items made for home and garden use, such as mugs, bowls, plates and platters, planters, salt jars, soap dispensers, sponge holders, tea pots, and much more. 

New items this year include pizza stones, sushi platters, and numerous casseroles. The work for sale is durable for daily use, and safe to put in the oven, dishwasher and microwave. …

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Princess Kaʻiulani, the Island Rose

Thursday, November 6th, 2025

Princess Kaʻiulani, the Island Rose

By Léo Azambuja

She was a surfer, an artist and a writer. She spoke four languages. She was a princess and the heir to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a nation stolen by the descendants of the people the Hawaiians had welcomed with their aloha.  

“The missionaries came here to us and taught us to look to Heaven for happiness, and while our eyes were on the skies they have taken our land from under our feet,” Princess Kaʻiulani said in an interview to The San Francisco Call newspaper Aug. 7, 1898.

Awaiulu head researcher Kalei Roberts highlighted the life of Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani Kawēkiu i Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Cleghorn during October’s E Hoʻomanaʻo series event at Molokai Public Library Oct.…

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Library Unveils ‘The Plants of Molokai Over Time’ Mural

Thursday, October 30th, 2025

Library Unveils ‘The Plants of Molokai Over Time’ Mural

By Léo Azambuja

A gyotaku artist who was part of the Molokai Arts Center’ Artist in Residence program last April returned to the island this month to unveil a mural that wasn’t in his plans when he first came to Molokai.

“We came to this artist residency here on Molokai thinking about one thing, and it turned into something else in the middle of it. This mural is really the result of what happened to us during this process of mutual flourishing with the community,” Duncan Berry said of the time he and his wife, Melany, spent on Molokai. 

The mural, “The Plants of Molokai Over Time,” is now on permanent exhibit at Molokai Public Library, where Berry had an informal talk Oct.…

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Lei Making with Maiʻa Bark

Thursday, October 30th, 2025

Lei Making with Maiʻa Bark

By Léo Azambuja
Early Polynesian seafarers brought at least 23 different plant species to Hawaii, and among them the maiʻa, or banana. The Hawaiian Arts program at Molokai Arts Center singled out the maiʻa for a free two-part lei-making workshop that concluded last weekend in Hoʻolehua.
“Today, we are going to learn how to make roses first, and then we are going to try and build the lei,” Kaulananapua Dudoit told about a dozen people at the start of the workshop, as she grabbed a piece of dried banana bark and gracefully twisted it to create a small rose in a few seconds.…

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Making Molokai Even More Beautiful

Thursday, October 9th, 2025

Making Molokai Even More Beautiful

By Léo Azambuja

A Molokai artist shared her passion for using art to make her home island even more beautiful during the Global Citizenship Speaker series at Molokai Public Library last month.

About 30 people attended Kalaʻe Tangonan’s good-humored presentation Sept. 17 about her endeavors in the art world, underlining Molokai, Kuʻu One Hānau, or Molokai, My Beloved Birthplace, a recently finished series of murals at Molokai High School. The large artwork involved other artists, students and multiple community volunteers. 

“Going through this process, I told myself, ‘It would be nicer if we could kind of spread around our island and create more mana‘o (ideas),’” Tangonan said.…

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Keeping Molokai’s History Alive and Accessible

Thursday, August 28th, 2025

Keeping Molokai’s History Alive and Accessible

By Léo Azambuja
The Molokai History Project offers a unique experience for locals and visitors. The nonprofit organization is a small museum in Kaunakakai, providing both a window to the past and a bridge that helps to keep the island’s rich history alive.
“When we started, we didn’t classify ourselves as a true museum, so we just called ourselves a history project, a beginning,” board member Judy Mertens said.
The History Project opened almost two years ago, in October 2023. Its first location was in a tiny shop next to Ho‘ala Café at Ala Malama Avenue. Last May, they moved to their current location, a bigger space across the street from the iconic Mid Nite Inn.…

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He Ēwe Molokaʻi: Carrying the Spirit of Molokai to the Cook Islands – Part 1

Thursday, August 21st, 2025

He Ēwe Molokaʻi: Carrying the Spirit of Molokai to the Cook Islands – Part 1

Community Contributed

By Ka Ipu Makani Cultural Heritage Center

This summer, students from the He Ēwe Molokaʻi Youth Cultural Ambassadors Program embarked on an unforgettable journey to the Cook Islands, visiting the islands of Rarotonga and Atiu. From July 18-28, the trip marked the culmination of a year of preparation and fundraising, bringing to life months of anticipation and hard work.

He Ēwe Molokaʻi is led by Ka Ipu Makani Cultural Heritage Center in partnership with the Molokai Digital Bus, and the trip was made possible through the generosity of our Cook Islands hosts, Kōrero o te ʻŌrau. The program is rooted in the belief that our youth carry the knowledge, traditions, and aloha that will guide Molokai’s future, and it nurtures this responsibility by instilling pride, connection, and kuleana to sustain our culture and community for generations to come.…

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Ho‘aka Mana’s Program Strengthens Laka Connection

Thursday, July 17th, 2025

Ho‘aka Mana’s Program Strengthens Laka Connection

By Léo Azambuja
More than a dozen children spent two days at Molokai Public Library last week, planting several Native Hawaiian plant species around the property. But the purpose wasn’t to beautify the 88-year-old historic building; it was part of Ola O Laka, a program to strengthen Native Hawaiian identity.
“It’s a program that we created to honor Laka. Laka is the native forest. As Native Hawaiians, we are just trying to revitalize it, bring more education around it, but specifically the connection to Laka,” Ho‘aka Mana executive director Kanoe Davis said. “She is all things hula, and she is all things forest.”…

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May Day Across the Island

Thursday, June 5th, 2025

May Day Across the Island

By The Molokai Dispatch Staff

Molokai students celebrated May Day at schools across the island last month. Keiki draped in colorful lei represented each island in their school’s May Day courts, while each class performed a hula or mele for their ‘ohana and friends.
According to Kamehameha Schools, Reverend Samuel Kapu of Maui wrote a mele called “Na Lei o Hawaii” which mentioned the flower symbol for each island. The first May Day celebration was held in 1928, and the floral symbolism continues today: Hawaii Island is represented by red ‘oh‘ia blossoms, pink lokelani for Maui, yellow ilima for Oahu, Molokai is the green kukui leaf, Lanai represented by light orange strands of kauna‘oa, gray hinahina is for Kahoolawe, Kauai is the purple berries of mokihana, and Niihau is symbolized by white pupu shell.…

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Honoring St. Damien’s Legacy

Thursday, May 22nd, 2025

Honoring St. Damien’s Legacy

By Jack Kiyonaga, Editor

On May 10, 1873, Damien De Veuster, better known as St. Damien, arrived at Kalawao to minister to those suffering from Hansen’s disease. He would serve in the exiled settlement until he succumbed to Hansen’s disease himself in 1889. To honor his arrival on Molokai, May 10 is the feast day of St. Damien in the Catholic Church, and a day on which his legacy of charity is remembered. Last week on Molokai, one man continued this celebration of St. Damien with a unique project.

The plan, explained Mark Jechura who is organizing the Tree of Hope Tour project, was to begin a pilgrimage of relics of St.…

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