Kauai residents campaign to save historic Lihue Post Office

In the era of Twitter feuds and email blasts, some Kauai residents are using a decidedly low-tech, high-kitsch form of messaging to save an even older method of communication.

They’re writing letters on coconuts to protest the plan to shut down the historic Lihue Post Office. They’re mailing the coconuts to the U.S. Postal Service.

Well, that’s not all they’re doing.

The coconuts are just one part of a campaign put together by Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and local business leaders in Lihue, who all want to talk the Postal Service out of a plan to move out of the 1939 building in the heart of the old town and into a modern facility closer to the airport.

Volunteers in the effort are also doing door-to-door canvassing, letter writing (on traditional paper) and a social media campaign, asking supporters to post selfies outside the pretty Spanish mission-style building on Rice Street and tag the pictures with #SaveOurPostOffice, #ThisPlaceMatters and #WhyICare.

The “Why I Care” part isn’t always easy to put into words, especially in a place like Kauai, where so much that is felt often goes unsaid. How does one capture the satisfying sweetness of red-brown mud mixed with the powdery tang of mildew and why that mix could instantly smell like your hometown? How to describe the exact quality of the light in the front lobby when you’ve just ducked inside from a sunshiny morning rain? How do you explain the joy of seeing the same friendly faces every day and knowing that you love that skinny old man, you love that chubby old lady with the hairpinned bangs, you love them like they’re yours and you don’t even know their names, only where their P.O. boxes are in relation to yours?

The post office has outgrown its parking lot, but Pat Griffin, president of the Lihue Business Association, says plans already are in place to make the post office more pedestrian-friendly.

“With county and state offices virtually across the street from the post office, large banks on either side of it, professional, nonprofit and commercial establishments around it, and housing nearby — including the recently developed Kaniko‘o senior housing community — the post office provides an invaluable service to the community,” she said.

Moving operations closer to the airport means every patron will have to drive. And then the future of the building would have to be decided. But more precious than the old place is the spirit of the old place.

“It has remained the hub of communication for three-quarters of a century, a gathering place where friends see one another, where residents and visitors send tokens of affection to loved ones far away, and where considerable business is accomplished on a daily basis, notwithstanding our networked, cloud-based, digital world,” Griffin said. “It remains a vital, vibrant expression of our life on Kauai and should continue to hold pride of place into the century to come.”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.