Hawaii Kai Farmers' Market

As the owners and operators of the Ala Moana, Hawaii Kai & Hale’iwa Farmers’ Markets, we would like to introduce ourselves, and give you a little background on what makes our markets so unique. It is a priority of ours to create a meeting place for the community- young, old and everyone in between: a place of celebration. Each market has a café where patrons gather with their market-purchased food and beverages, listen to live music, and talk-story. We have festivals to celebrate a seasonal crops or cultural themes, such as Taro Fest in October and Cacao Fest in January. Vendors will go out of their way to create festive recipes and value added products highlighting that crop. We often have special attractions such as chef demos, book signings, or nutritional demos. We are very proud of our efforts in becoming Oahu’s Premiere Green Markets, and have created Zero Waste Stations where our customers learn to divide out their garbage into Food Waste, Bio-Compostables, Recyclables, and trash. It is our goal to have that 4th bin empty at the end of the market day. We ask that all food vendors use only bio-compostable utensils and plates. These products - sugar or wheat- may cost a penny or two more, but the impact on the planet is far less - from production all the way to decomposition. Like many markets, we encourage our customers to bring their own shopping bags. And many vendors are coming up with unique ways to package items that we would usually find in small plastic bags- for instance using banana leaf or palm fronds to wrap up a handful of green beans. This never fails to draw attention to their beautiful display and open up a conversation about sustainability. We are dedicated to the local grower. We do not allow any produce from the mainland, China or elsewhere to be sold at our market. We are committed to creating and utilizing more sustainable agricultural land, and believe that through supporting local agriculture and the local economy, that more lands will be made available to the small farmer. This is a benefit to our entire island- as the less we have to import the better. We require that all the people selling produce at our market be growers themselves. We visit their farms and see their operations. We want to be of assistance in anyway possible- whether connecting them to available lands, granting opportunities, or other resources. We believe that these men and women are doing us a huge service by growing the food that we eat, and we want to support their efforts in any way possible. It is the vision and mission of our markets to create a business incubator for small farmers, food manufacturers and artisans, by creating a supportive and nurturing environment, which will cultivate economic growth, community health, and cultural awareness. Every day we move forward in this vision. We hope that you will come out to our market soon with the goal of discovering just how unique we are!