‘It was like a bomb had fallen!”
That’s how Mike Nelson described the plume of ash that rose thousands of feet over Hawaii island’s Volcano area the morning of May 3, 2018.
“My wife and I were on the 18th fairway of Volcano Golf and Country Club, and it was the most frightening thing we’ve ever seen,” said Nelson, the chief executive officer of Volcano Art Center. “It was so big and thick, it blocked part of the sky. That was the first day of Kilauea Volcano’s most recent eruptive phase, which shook Volcano Village to the core, both literally and figuratively.”
Like other residents of the small, tight-knit rural community that’s the gateway to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP), the Nelsons endured three months of nonstop tremors.
IF YOU GO
Experience Volcano Festival
>> Where: Various venues throughout Volcano Village, Volcano, Hawaii island
>> When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 27-28
>> Cost: Free; food, beverages, plants, arts and crafts and more can be purchased.
>> Info: 808-967-8222
>> Notes: Park at Volcano Garden Arts, Lava Rock Cafe, Kilauea Lodge, Volcano Winery, Volcano Art Center, 2400 Fahrenheit or Akatsuka Orchid Gardens. A free shuttle will run between those locations every 60 minutes between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. All of them will distribute the festival’s map, which can also be downloaded on the website. Have the map stamped when you visit each location and leave it at the last place you visit. That will qualify you for drawings for prizes on Monday, July 29. Winners will be notified by phone or email.
“There were hundreds, day and night,” Nelson said. “Artist Karen Kaufman designed a T-shirt that said, ‘Volcano Rocks,’ which was a stroke of genius. It referred to the tremors but also that Volcano is a very cool place, and that’s what we hope visitors will discover at the Experience Volcano Festival.”
The new annual event was born when HVNP’s closure resulted in a drastic drop in business in Volcano Village. It was clear that creative ideas and teamwork were needed to help businesses remain solvent.
“Volcano Art Center’s gallery in HVNP had to close with virtually no notice, leaving more than 200 artists without a venue to market their work,” Nelson said. “With the help of several volunteers, we moved it out of the park and into a temporary space at our Niaulani campus in Volcano Village, so we could continue supporting as many artists as possible. Other businesses also had to make major adjustments.”
Compounding those challenges were news reports by journalists from national news organizations that erroneously gave the impression that another Krakatoa was destroying Hawaii island. As a result, visitors by the droves canceled their vacations.
“Dealing with the uncertainty of our futures was traumatic, and the community needed to keep optimistic,” Nelson said. “What better way to do that than to host a party?”
Meetings for the Experience Volcano Festival began a year ago with Nelson and artist Ira Ono, owner of Volcano Garden Arts, leading the charge. A steering committee was formed, and planning began. More and more people got involved as each month passed.
The inaugural festival will offer a weekend of great food, music and dance performances, art displays and demonstrations and opportunities for attendees to create art themselves.
“Our quiet rainforest town is a wonderful mix of artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and Hawaiian cultural practitioners,” Nelson said. “It’s a gem that we’re excited to share during the festival. We want to show how we’ve healed, rebuilt and grown in the wake of devastating losses.”
Representing that recovery is a community art project comprising five mosaic murals at Hale Ho‘omana (House of Empowerment), Volcano Art Center’s art education building. Designed by different artists, they depict images inspired by the Volcano region.
During the festival, visitors can participate in the assembly of two of the murals: “We Love Volcano” and “Pele at Rest in the Caldera.” Those murals are being created with both repurposed and new tiles. Many of the new tiles were made by the community, including third- through sixth-grade students at Volcano School of Arts & Sciences public charter school.
“A lot of the news coverage about Volcano in the past year has been related to the eruption and how it disrupted life here, but they don’t portray our community’s true spirit or story,” Nelson said. “The murals at Hale Ho‘omana are tributes to the remarkable strength and resilience of our community.”
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A SELECTION OF FESTIVAL EVENTS (subject to change)
For the full lineup, go to experiencevolcano.com/festival.
July 27
>> 7-11 a.m.: Ohia Lehua Half Marathon
>> 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.: Glassblowing demonstration, 2400 Fahrenheit
Akatsuka Orchid Gardens
>> 11-11:30 a.m.: Guided tour
>> 1-2 p.m.: Orchid flask planting
Kilauea Lodge
>> 1-2 p.m.: Guided tour of Volcano’s historic homes
>> 3-4 p.m.: Bamboo stamp carving
Volcano Art Center
>> Noon-2 p.m.: Assembly of “We Love Volcano” mural
>> 7-8 p.m.: “Hawaii: Living on the Edge in Paradise,” a documentary recapping the 2018 eruption
Volcano Garden Arts
>> 9-10 a.m.: Bonsai
>> 1-2 p.m.: Ceramic mask-making
Volcano Winery
>> 9-10 a.m.: Tea workshop
>> 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m.: Guided winery tours
July 28
Kilauea Lodge
>> 2:30-4:30 p.m.: Afternoon tea (reservations are required)
Lava Rock Cafe
>> 9-10 a.m.: Hawaiian quilting
>> 10-11 a.m.: Poi pounding
>> 11 a.m.-noon: Acoustic music
>> Noon-1 p.m.: Tahitian dance
>> 2-4 p.m.: Hawaiian music
Volcano Art Center
>> 9-10 a.m., 2-3 p.m.: Guided rainforest/sculpture garden walk
>> 10 a.m.-noon: Assembly of “We Love Volcano” mural
>> 10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Assembly of “Pele at Rest in the Caldera” mural
>> 11 a.m.-noon: Hawaiian block printing
>> 1-2 p.m.: Pottery
>> 3-4 p.m.: Ukulele lesson
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.
