Handcrafters of all sorts on Maui, Molokai and Lanai have their own version of the Made in Hawaii Festival to eagerly anticipate this year.
The inaugural Made in Maui County Festival will be Nov. 7 and 8 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center and is being staged by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development in partnership with the Maui Chamber of Commerce. Organizers plan to make the festival an annual event.
The festival will not be reinventing the wheel; rather, it will take many tips from the successful annual Made in Hawaii Festival on Oahu each August, said Office of Economic Development Director Teena Rasmussen.
The event will be "open to all companies that meet the same criteria as the Made in Hawaii Festival, that is, 51 percent value-added in Hawaii, but their headquarters has to be in Maui County," she said.
The county has "taken 18 of our companies to the Made in Hawaii Festival, and based on their experience — and we’re still encouraging our companies to go to that show — the issue is the cost for our people to go," Rasmussen said.
Neighbor island vendors have to ship merchandise to Oahu and rent a hotel and car for three or four nights, which becomes quite expensive, "so by the time they add all that to the trade show cost," they have a high base line before any profit can be achieved, she said. Such costs can be prohibitive for many would-be vendors.
To make the Maui event "affordable, we are going to give our companies on Molokai and Lanai some assistance to come here," said Rasmussen.
Some pieces of the festival still have to be finalized, such as the cost for a booth and the exact number of booths that will be available, "but we are expecting over 100," Rasmussen said. At the MACC a meeting room may be used for some vendors with high-value items, such as jewelry.
Prices for vendors and admission prices for the public and other details will be finalized this month.
The first day of the festival, a Friday, will be for buyers on an invitation-only basis, but the next day the festival will be open to the public at "nominal cost," Rasmussen said. There also will be onstage product demonstrations all day by vendors who sign up for the opportunity.
"In addition, we’re going to invite food trucks … to serve people" on the back lawn of the MACC.
"It’s the first one. We are really excited about it," Rasmussen said, as is the Maui County Council.
Not surprisingly, Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa also supports the event.
"We have a wide variety of products that are made right here on Maui, Molokai and Lanai and this is a great idea, to gather them all in one place," Arakawa said in an emailed statement. "We have some outstanding artists, crafters, wood-workers and of course locally prepared food that we plan to showcase to the world at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center."
The Maui Chamber of Commerce has long been involved in promoting products that are locally made, said Chamber President Pamela Tumpap.
The chamber officially branded the "Made in Maui" mark "long ago" and created the Made in Maui Trade Council, a chamber committee with more than 70 members whose main purpose is to create awareness of the county’s locally made products, Tumpap said.
Both residents and visitors "are always looking for things made by local people, local hands, local hearts, to keep dollars in our community and grow these outstanding businesses."
The festival gives the Office of Economic Development and the Chamber an opportunity for "reaching out to our sister islands … and including them and their great and unique products, and we’re going to connect them with corporate buyers, wholesalers and distributors to help expand the reach of these products into other markets."
"Buy Maui First" is a popular slogan, and since the festival is "right before the holiday season … we will really have a chance to showcase" the Maui County-made products that are available, said Tumpap.
Professional buyers interested in trying to get on the invitation list can contact the chamber at 244-0081, Tumpap said. There will be a screening process.
Wailuku-based Linn Nishikawa & Associates Inc. has been awarded the marketing contract, and mostly "behind-the-scenes" work is underway right now, Nishikawa said, such as preparing a festival website and other resources for vendors, and publicity materials.
Until the website is built, some basic information is available at CalendarMaui.com.
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On the Net:
» is.gd/Calendar MauiMIMCF
» is.gd/Maui CountyOED
» www.mauichamber.com
» madeinmaui.com
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
