Made in Hawaii Festival moves online Friday

The 2020 Made in Hawaii Festival opens as planned on Friday but this year it’s virtual. What’s more, in addition to cooking demonstrations and three afternoons of music, this year’s festival is launching the Made in Hawaii Festival Marketplace that will make an array of Hawaii-made products available to a worldwide audience year-round.

“I felt compelled to do something, and I think ultimately it was the best choice for us,” Amy Hammond, executive director of the festival, said in a telephone conversation recently.

“Quite a few” of the festival vendors sell only at the festival, she added. That meant that not putting on a festival in 2020 was not an option.

“I think we’re also fortunate that we’re down the line here a little bit later in time where people are comfortable (with virtual events). They’ve seen the livestream concerts and things like that so they’re accustomed to what (virtual) is. The nature of the cooking demonstrations and entertainment makes it fairly easy to make them into a virtual format,” she said.

Virtual shoppers can anticipate seeing the wares of more than 200 Hawaii-resident vendors with about 40 of the vendors new to the festival. Among them are jewelers, clothing designers, candle makers, basket weavers, hat makers, and purveyors of products ranging from hot sauce and beef jerky to macadamia nuts and nontoxic nail polish products.

And unlike years past when it all ended on a Sunday, the vendors and their products will be available at the online marketplace year-round.

“Getting the new site up has been a lot of work, but I feel like in the end we’ll have a very good end product,” Hammond said. “We’ve tried to make the site very clean and fresh and contemporary (and) as easy as possible for people to utilize from their phone or their tablet or their computer.”

Hammond said the logistics imposed by COVID-19 made it necessary to film the cooking demonstrations last week.

“We’re having to do things a little bit differently, but they’ll be uploaded to the site at the designated time. The segments are really nice and I got to sample some things, and they’re phenomenal.”

Entertainment for the weekend will be streamed on the Made in Hawaii Festival’s Facebook page: facebook.com/MadeInHI.

“We’re hoping to have a good launch (of the festival marketplace),” Hammond said. “Kicking it off with the addition of the entertainment and cooking demonstrations will drive more people to the site. People will be curious, and then we will be adding vendors as we go though the year, and we’ll be doing some more features.”

“This is a natural progression, (but) COVID expedited it.”

For more information and the event lineup, visit madeinhawaiifestival.com.