Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 11, 1 November 2020 — The Made in Hawai'i Festival Online Marketplace: A New Way to Shop Local [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Made in Hawai'i Festival Online Marketplace: A New Way to Shop Local

By Lauren Zirbel

The Made in Hawai'i Festival has been supporting loeal businesses for over a quarter century. For the tens of thousands of shoppers who visit the Festival eaeh year it is an experience like no other, with hundreds of stalls of loeal food, art, clothes, and crafts; along with live loeal music, entertainment, and cooking demonstrations from world-renowned loeal chefs. Having the Festival in person this year was not an option with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But for the Hawai'i Food Industry Association (HFIA), whieh produces the Festival, abandoning the mission and goals of the Made in Hawai'i Festival was not an option either. The Made in Hawai'i Festival is mueh more than an event. It's a loeal business incubator with few barriers to participate and a guaranteed audience - so even small companies have a plaee to start and grow. Products sold at the Festival must be genuinely made in Hawai'i, so the Festival is also a plaee where shoppers ean support truly loeal businesses and interact with contemporary Hawai'i culture. Because most of the Festival attendees are Hawai'i residents, it's an important eeonomie driver for the state that is not reliant on tourism. Many Festival vendors use locally grown agricultural products to create valueadded products whieh are sold to loeal consumers, creating a strong resilient Hawai'i economy. HFIA knew it had to continue the important work

of the Festival, so we created the Made in Hawai'i Festival Online Marketplace. The theme of this year's Festival is "Standing Together With Aloha" because we believe that is how we'll get through this crisis. The Made in Hawai'i Festival Online Marketplace is unlike any other website. It allows shoppers to buy from hundreds of Hawai'i businesses, all in one plaee, and it gives vendors a ehanee to sell their products year-round to customers across the islands and around the world. For the Online Marketplace launeh weekend, the spirit of the Festival was captured by streaming live music, cooking demonstrations and other enter-

tainment. The launeh weekend got the Marketplace off to a great start - vendors saw strong sales and, in addition to loeal shoppers, there were shoppers from every state and 93 countries! Presenting sponsors Central Paeilie Bank Foundation and Mahi Pono, and sponsors Ulupono Initiative, Innovate Hawai'i, Buy Loeal, It Matters, Hawaiian Airlines, and Hawaiian Air Cargo are all committed to the Festival mission of supporting loeal businesses. HFIA invested in the Marketplace because we take our responsibility to empower Made in Hawai'i businesses seriously. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged our state in so many unexpected ways. The Made in Hawai'i Festival Online Marketplace is our way of meeting that challenge and Standing Together with Aloha. This December, www.madeinhawaiifestival.com is giving away a free trip on Hawaiian Airlines, we hope that you'll join us in supporting Hawaii businesses by shopping at www.madeinhawaiifestival. eom this holiday season, and all year round. ■ Lauren Zirbel is the executive director of the Hawai'i Food Industry Association. Established in 1972, the Hawai'i Food Industry Association is a nonprofit trade association whose mission is to actively promote the interests of Hawai' i' s food and beverage retailers and suppliers. Lauren directs and coordinates all activities and programs conducted by the association.

I 4" ywjwi ♦ JB ^^3 jL V v Beautiful lauhala hats on display last year at the Made in Hawaii Festival at the Neal Blaisdell Center. This year the Festival is online.- Photo: Courtesy