Lei Contest At Amy Greenwell Garden's Grow Fest

Captain Cook, HI"¦.The 3 rd Annual Grow Hawaiian Festival at Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, Hawai'i Island , will be held Saturday, February 24, 2007 , from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is FREE! Lei makers are encouraged to bring lei to compete in a variety of categories for the Grow Hawaiian Fest's Lei Contest.

Categories for judging are as follows: Lei pua 'ole (lei made with no flowers or flower parts); Lei Hapa Haole (lei incorporating any flowers or other objects); Traditional Hawaiian Lei (lei made in a traditional style); and Lei of the Day (any lei made at the Festival). Lei must be brought to the judging table by noon . Judges will be well known lei makers Marie MacDonald, Kilohana Domingo, and Maile Napoleon. Winners will be announced at 1:20 p.m. There is no fee to enter and winners receive a full year of bragging rights until next's year's contest.

Other activities at Grow Hawaiian Fest include opportunities for weavers, dancers, kapa makers, and other practitioners of traditional Hawaiian culture to meet with biologists, conservationists, and horticulturists to explore their common passion for the native and Polynesian introduced plants of Hawai'i. Festival-goers have a unique opportunity to meet and talk with many of the foremost practitioners of Hawaiian arts like lei maker Marie MacDonald or kapa maker Kapua Van Dorpe as well as leading scientists like botanist Clyde Imada or entomologist David Preston.

The festival includes cultural demonstrators, ask-the-expert booths, and displays by schools, parks, and conservation organizations. There will be a continuing program of speakers and panels on the main stage throughout the day, activity areas for young and old, and plate lunches by Super-J's.

On the main stage, the program will be a mix of cultural insights, entertainment, and fascinating accounts by leading conservationists and botanists. There is never a dull moment with Tom Cummings and Kealoha Kelekolio as masters of ceremony--they are well known storytellers who work with the Bishop Museum Education Department and they fit in a number of their dramatic presentations on traditional themes during the day. Bill Garnett will discuss his successful outplanting techniques in one session, and Angela Keppler will describe tracking down the elusive Hawaiian banana varieties in another.

A roundtable of well known cultural practitioners including Marie MacDonald will bring their personal stories of plants and planting before the audience, and Don Hemmes will talk about the fungus he has known in his years as an expert at Hawaiian. Kanu o ka 'Äina will open and close the program with chants, and Ulali'a Berman and her dancers will provide an interlude of hula.

Cultural demonstrators will be available all day for visitors to meet and talk story about their specialities. The Kona Weavers Club, an informal group that meets once a month at Amy Greenwell Garden to weave, will be at the festival making hats, mats, and other items from lauhala. Kapua Van Dorpe will beat kapa on the traditional kua, or wooden anvil. Manny Mattos will bring the spears, clubs, daggers, and other weapons he makes from traditional plant and animal resources, and lei makers Kilohana Domingo and Maile Napoleon will demonstrate different lei making techniques. Michael Harburg will be on hand with the Kona Gourd Society demonstrating the art of gourd decoration. Lisa Schattenburg from Maui Nui Botanical Garden brings a beautiful display of native plant dyes and explains how she makes them.

For those seeking hands-on experiences, there are many activities to choose from. George Place will help festival-goers create their own art with 'ohe käpala, traditional bamboo stamps. Nancy Redfeather will make ti leaf leis with children and adults alike. Weary attendees can refresh themselves with a lomilomi massage from Wes Sen and his students. Kau'hane Morton will help participants make, tune, and blow their own 'ohe hano ihu-bamboo nose flute.

One of the most popular activities at previous festivals is a guided tour of Amy Greenwell Garden led by David Orr, curator of collections at Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden on O'ahu. His deep knowledge of native plants and enduring passion for conservation make this tour a must-do event for garden lovers and conservationists in West Hawai'i.

The festival provides an extraordinary opportunity for people to ask experts for advice on all manner of things biological or horticultural. Bring your mystery plants or bugs to the festival to get them identified! Clyde Imada of Bishop Museum and Marie Breugmann of USFWS between them can name almost any plant from the garden or native forest. Pat Conant (Hawai'i Dept. of Agriculture) and David Preston ( Bishop Museum ) will do likewise with any insect, whether an imported pest or native treasure, brought before them.

Jerry Konanui, noted taro expert will be on hand to identify taro varieties and answer questions about cultivating the traditional staple crop, and Ed Johnston, editor of the new definitive book on 'awa, will help farmers and gardeners understand the art of growing this important and beautiful plant. Dr. Scot Nelson, CTAHR plant pathologist, is an expert on whatever ails a plant, so festival-growers can bring their problem plants for an outdoor office visit. The Kona Master Gardeners will be available for garden consultation nearby. Unusual bananas and other rare fruit can be identified by Ken Love and Angela Keppler. Dr. Keppler was an ornithologist before she became a botanist and can also help with bird identifications. All fungus are unusual to most people, but Don Hemmes (UH Hilo ) will help sort out the toadstools from the pepeiao.

At the many booths in the festival, conservation experts will be ready to talk to visitors about projects on Kaua'i, Moloka'i, Maui , and Hawai'i. Experts like Dave Bender of National Tropical Botanical Garden who has worked extensively on Kaua'i as well as Hawai'i, and Bill Garnett, who has been restoring landscapes for many years on O'ahu and Moloka'i will discuss planting techniques and maintenance challenges. Patti Moriyasu, of the Volcano Rare Plant Facility, can discuss propagation techniques for some of the rarest plants in the world. Jill Wagner will be available to talk about the restoration work she has done with TREE Hawai'i in West Hawai'i, and representatives of schools and conservation groups will be on hand to describe their projects. -- www.bishopmuseum.org