July 9, 2024 · 8:45 AM HST
Nā Mamo O Mūʻolea, a nonprofit organization in Maui Hikina (East Maui), is pleased to announce the 15th Hāna Limu Festival. The 2024 festival will take place at Kapueokahi, Hāna Bay Beach Park on Saturday, July 20, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This year’s theme is: ‘O ka limu ka huli hoʻokawowō honua (The limu is the huli that seeds the earth). It is inspired by the Kumulipo, Hawaiʻi’s creation chant. “The first wā of the Kumulipo presents the limu of our coastlines,” says Dr. Huihui Kanahele-Mossman, Executive Director of The Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation). “This concept is taken directly from lines 113 and 114 of this first wā which describes the bountiful limu of our coastlines that grow like ocean vines and are the huli that grows in the ocean.”
Activities will include:
- live limu identification with limu collected very early that morning by Hāna residents and limu enthusiasts
- hands-on activities for both youth and adults
- live Hawaiian music
- silent auction
- handicrafts
- ‘ono food, and
- t-shirts that once again feature the talents of Nā Mamoʻs president Hank Eharis Jr.
Every year Nā Mamo designs the festival to foster a deeper awareness of our native limu species and hopes that people will be mindful of their kuleana and role in ensuring our ocean resources are here for generations to come. Collaborating partners and co-sponsors include the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, County of Maui, Maui Nui Makai Network, The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra, and Kua ʻĀina Ulu ʻAuamo.
The event focuses on how our kai + wai = the health of our nearshore fisheries. These things are inherently connected and foundational to a momona (abundant) landscape. Native limu is essential, not only as an ‘ono, nutritious part of the traditional Hawaiian diet but for its vital role in the health of the nearshore ecosystem, serving as the base of the food chain and providing food and shelter for herbivore fish such as ʻuhu and invertebrates such as sea cucumbers.
Each year, funds raised through the silent auction enable Nā Mamo O Mūʻolea to award the Isabelle Aiona Abbott Scholarship to Hāna students. Nā Mamo hopes to build capacity by encouraging them to follow in Dr. Abbott’s footsteps by pursuing studies in marine biology, natural resource management, Hawaiian studies, or other health and environmental fields of study.