April - the Month of Too Many Festivals on Maui

April is the cruellest month, breeding. Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing. Memory and desire, stirring. Dull roots with spring rain. – T. S. Eliot

Maui had tremendous rains in March, but April has been dry. We’ve had days of Kona weather – when the wind blows from the East, from the direction of Kona on the Big Island, instead of our normal trade winds. Often there is no wind, and the air feels like a blanket, and the mosquitoes are buzzing disdainfully because there is no wind to blow them away. Living by the side of a gulch, which has a stream and stagnant water down below, I’ve been supplying the mosquitoes daily.

April has also been a month of a lot of festivals and community events. Not to belittle or undermine what’s going on in the rest of the world, but Maui continues to march out event after event after event. And it seems like that will continue through May, and probably every month this year. I've been so focused on the A to Z challenge, I haven't taken the time to highlight some local events. 

Earth Day: one of the last festivals in April on Maui.
The second Earth Day Festival or maybe it's the third?

This list will probably bore most people, unless you're just fascinated by all the happenings that can happen on Maui or are doing research. The list doesn't even include all the art happenings, events, sporting events, or performances.  

April 1^st: Presentation about Maui’s Water hosted by Upcountry Sustainability.

Water Commissioner Jonathan Starr talks about water history, resource and regulatory issues on Maui.

April 1^st: Tweet up with Brian Solis, a social media guru. 

April 3rd: TEDxMauiChange event at Seabury Hall, a video presentation hosted by local TEDx.

April 5^th: First Friday in Wailuku

Outdoor town party with live music, booths, and food.

April 6^th: Maui AgriculturalFestival

This popular festival keeps getting bigger and bigger. I’m sure it was in the thousands. Promoting local food, agriculture and a Taste of Maui Expo. A nice Ag Fest write up is by Maui Shop Girl.

April 8^th: Presentation on Biofuel Agriculture by Kelly King, who co-founded Pacific Biodiesel.

Hosted by Upcountry Sustainability and SLIM.

April 11^th- 13^th: Maui Body and Soil Conference

A conference featuring information and workshops on health, gardening, and sustainability. Health for the individual and health for the soil and environment. "As above, so below."

April 12^th: Second Friday in Lahaina

Lahaina Town’s outdoor town party. Since Lahaina has a lot of art galleries, there is a big emphasis on art. Often there are contests or special activities for the night.

April 13^th: Maui Nui Botanical Gardens Earth Day

A family friendly event with Hawaiian cultural activities like lei making, kapa (Hawaiian barkcloth) making, live music, and booths.

April 13^th: Imua Fantasia Ball

A gala fundraiser for Imua Family Services that received a lot of social media attention from fellow bloggers and tweeps. The link above is a write up by A Maui Blog. 

April 15^th: Art Maui exhibit opens.

The biggest and most-celebrated annual art exhibit on Maui. Highly competitive. Artists stress out about this one.

April 15th: David Taylor, Director of MauiCounty’s Water Dept., does a Q and A session at Upcountry Sustainability regarding water management, ownership, and use by homeowners, farmers, small businesses and large corporations. Water is a hot topic on Maui.   

April 17^th: Seed collecting and saving workshop at Oma’opio Greenhouse

Hosted by Community Work Day, this greenhouse also provides all the starter plants “starts” for the school gardens on Maui. And, they host a volunteer workday every Wednesday from 10 am to 4 pm. 

April 19^th: Art of Trash Opening Night

People dress up in costume made of trash or recycled materials. Live entertainment includes an art of trash costume show. The Art of Trash exhibit opens. Not a lot of social media about this, but a worthwhile event. 

April 19^th: Third Friday party in Makawao

Makawao’s outdoor Friday party. Makawao is a cowboy/hippie/art town in upcountry Maui.

Apri 19^th: A garden workshop by Patrick McManaway, one of the speakers at the Maui Body and Soil Conference.

April 20^th: Haiku Ho’olaulea or Haiku Flower Festival

A family friendly event with events for the kids, pony rides, bouncy castles, Haiku Historical Society exhibits, live music, flower arranging contest, etc. Fun even for adults.

April 21^st: Haiku Ho’olaulea Community Lu’au

First ever lu’au as part of the Ho’olaulea

April 20^th – 21^st: Hana Taro Festival

Another major Maui event, great for families. Featuring poi pounding, taro cooking, booths, entertainment and the famous taro breakfast the morning after, visits to taro farms and gardens.

April 20^th – 21^st: The rebuilding of the labyrinth at the Sacred Garden of Maliko.

This outdoor, Chartres style labyrinth was washed away in the floods in March.

April 20^th: GMO rally in Lahaina

Boycott Kellogg’s Honk and Wave protest event.

April 23^rd: Maui FarmersUnion potluck and meeting

Open to the public. Best potluck on Maui. Great speakers. Free if you bring a dish to share.

April 24^th: Labyrinth walk at the Sacred Garden of Maliko. The outdoor labyrinth should be completed by now, and ready for a public meditative walk on the full moon.

April 26^th: Fourth Friday in Kihei

Kihei on the South Side of Maui offers live entertainment and activities as part of their town party celebration.

April 27^th: Fish Identification Network Reef Survey

A monthly snorkeling meeting which keeps track of reef fish each month.

April 27th: Grand Opening of Ocean Vodka distillery in Kula
Solar powered, distillery featuring organic production of a local product, dedicated to sustainable and conscious business practices, free tours, music, entertainment.

April 27th: Exclusive and private concert by Makana at Honua Kai Resort as a fundraiser for Hawaiian Island Land Trust.

April 27th: Community Project Day at Auwahi District, for the Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership. Usually they have a once a month volunteer project in a rare native ecosystem.

April 27th: The Butterfly Effect
A non competitive stand up paddling event for women. It's a really big event on Maui, and the only sporting event I've listed. One of those things I'd love to do... one day.

April 27th: How to Grow and Save Seeds
Another seed saving workshop, this time at Hale Akua Garden Farm.

April 27th and 28th: Rain Garden Workshop
Geared toward K-12 educators, but I just got an email that says it's also open to the general public. And it's free. I'm not sure what's so, but there may be room for interested gardeners.

April 28^th: Earth Day Festival

Another Earth Day Festival! This time on a Sunday. Lots of music, hippies, booths, activities.

May 1st: May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.
Annual celebration at schools, some hotels, some parks.

May 2^nd: Grand opening of the UH-Maui Community Garden.

The University of Hawaii, Maui Campus is celebrating the opening of its community garden.

I'm sure there are things I am still missing. But it does seem like there is an event every weekend, and possibly two or three. There’s no way to even participate in all these things. Luckily, Maui has lots of bloggers so often these events are covered by other people and I can participate vicariously. 

As April closes, I'm hoping that the month of May is a month of balance... and no more tragedies or disasters. 

My heart goes out to the folks in West Texas and Boston. For a moving blog post about the Boston Marathon, please visit 50 and Fabulous. Since I'm part of the A to Z challenge, I also encourage you to stop by and comment on an A to Z post by Alicia After 30 on the Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion. Just to give some support to another blogger.