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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / JUNE 2012
Food for sale at the Kapiolani Community College’s Culinary Arts Program booth at the KCC Farmers’ Market.
The Hawaii Farm Bureau today announced that its popular KCC Farmers’ Market at the Kapiolani Community College campus will be reopening Saturday, Nov. 14 for the first time since its closure in March due to COVID-related restrictions.
The farmers market will take place from 7:30 to 11 a.m. Saturdays, featuring 60 farmers and food vendors.
“We are grateful to the Kapiolani Community College and the University of Hawaii school system for allowing us to resume this important essential service,” Hawaii Farm Bureau executive director Brian Miyamoto said in a news release. “This commitment of both partners to provide residents and visitors access to freshly harvested, locally grown food is extremely crucial to the health and nutrition of our community, as well as the health of our economy.”
The Hawaii Farm Bureau started the KCC Farmers’ Market in collaboration with Kapiolani Community College in 2003, which has grown in popularity over the years. During the past eight months, some farmers markets remained open, while others were closed.
Miyamoto stressed the important role that farmers markets like the one at KCC play in keeping local farmers in business.
“When the coronavirus first hit Hawaii, our farmers were severely impacted because many of them relied on tourism, hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, school lunch programs and exports as their primary source of revenue,” Miyamoto said. “Farmers’ markets are important to local farmers in allowing them to continue their operations during this pandemic. Farmers’ markets provide direct access to healthy, nutritious foods, while also supporting the livelihoods of local farmers, food makers, and chefs.”
New health and safety procedures will be in place to comply with the Centers for Disease Control guidelines. Everyone must wear masks while at the market, and physical distancing should be maintained.
“The safety of our customers, vendors, and staff is our top priority,” Miyamoto said. “We will require everyone to wear masks while at the market, and will space out the vendor booths and implement signage and other measures to encourage social distancing.”
The market takes place in the upper campus parking lot (off Makapuu Avenue) at 4303 Diamond Head Road. Visit hfbf.org/farmers-markets/ to learn more.
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