december • 2012 keiki cover model

To celebrate our seventeen-year anniversary publishing The Maui Concierge, I decided to embrace good old-fashioned nepotism with our cover.

My daughter Maile is now five. She graced the cover as a toddler and, believe me, this year’s photo shoot was much easier. I think she was the least cooperative two-year-old child model that we have ever had (and we have had over 150 kids shot by Randy Jay Braun for our covers!).

I would like to humbly thank all of you for your support over the past years; we could never have made it without our dedicated advertisers and you, our readers.

It makes me feel a little old to celebrate almost 15 years as publisher of The Maui Concierge but I am honored to be part of your Guest Services community, and very proud of our island and all that you do to make our visitors stoked every day! I wish for you and your families a holiday season full of love; I am very thankful!

– allyson freeland, publisher

feel pure aloha: adventure, culinary, culture, fitness and wellness at travaasa hana

It had been a while. As many of you may agree, Hana sometimes seems like a neighbor island; a sweet, old neighbor whom you think about and hope to see soon. But, nonetheless, a distant neighbor located a million miles away from our hectic lives that we can have here on Maui. It can just seem “so far away.”

After living fifteen years on Maui, I tend to feel like the only way to go to Hana is to stay the night, and it had definitely been too long. I was curious about the new owners of the hotel after reading and hearing word of their re-birth of the Hotel Hana Maui and wanted to see it first hand.

bob longhi: a man who loved to eat—a tribute to maui’s late, iconic restaurateur extraordinaire

When renowned Maui restaurateur Bob Longhi passed away in July of this year, he left behind a remarkable legacy that spanned nearly four decades. He was “a true original whose passion for food was imbued with a unique blend of shrewd intellect, curiosity, humor, and humanity,” says long-time patron and friend Mikel Mesh.

Bob Longhi grew up in New York, attended Suffield Academy in Connecticut where he was known as “Lefty,” and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in economics. After making it big in the insurance business in New York City, he relocated to Washington, D.C., where he attained huge success selling pension plans to cities and counties.

hyundai tournament of champions returns to kapalua resort

January 3, 2013, Maui becomes the “home away from home” to the PGA TOUR’s greatest players at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. With a $5.6 million purse, the event is the season-opener of the PGA TOUR and held at the Plantation Course in Kapalua. The tournament’s unique format allows only champions from the 2012 PGA TOUR season to qualify for this one-of-a-kind, winners-only event.

Proceeds from the tournament directly impact our Maui charities. The hosts of this annual golf tournament have bestowed more than $4 million since it began in 1999. Throughout the years, these charities ranging from youth after-school programs and elderly care facilities, to environmental and wildlife protection groups, share their Aloha by providing valuable support and assistance to the local communities. The 2012 Hyundai Tournament of Champions designated beneficiaries included Boy Scouts of America, Friends of the Children’s Justice Center, Hale Makua, J. Walter Cameron Center, Ka Lima O Maui and Lahainaluna High School Foundation.