may • 2016 keiki cover model

Aloha and Mahalo to Shelly and Kirk Snyder for sharing their daughter Sydney with our readers this month.

Mom, Shelly, works as concierge manager at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua for Maui Concierge Services, and dad, Kirk, works for Lahaina Grill.

Sydney attends Maui Preparatory Academy, and is in seventh grade. At school she enjoys studying English and science. Sydney dances hula with Na Pua O Kapiolani, and enjoys playing the ‘ukulele.

Mom shares, “Sydney has always been extremely focused, and has a great attention to detail. She has a love of learning, and is rarely seen without a book in hand. Sydney’s focus and drive to do her very best every day is such an inspiration for me to do my best!”

hali‘imaile general store: the grand dame of upcountry maui

When a restaurant has been in business for nearly 30 years, you just gotta know they’re doing something right. Such is the case with Hali‘imaile General Store (HGS), opened in 1988 by renowned Chef Beverly Gannon. And a recent visit reminded Charles and I just how lucky we are to live only 10 minutes away from this venerable Maui dining establishment.

Driving Hali‘imaile Road is always an adventure. There are no street lights, and the road bisects acres of tall sugarcane riffling in the trade winds, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, after a handful of miles, you round a bend and, standing like a beacon with its cluster of welcoming lights, is HGS—much like a roadhouse from days gone by.

This is no serendipitous coincidence—the building housing HGS is actually steeped in Maui history. The pineapple boom in the Islands in the early part of the last century is responsible for the existence of this historic building. In the 1920s, camp houses for plantation workers abounded in Hali‘imaile, and a camp store was built in 1925—the original HGS. But the store was not just for groceries. HGS was a butcher shop, fish market, and post office, and had departments for clothing and household appliances. It was a one-stop-shop for necessities, as well as a place to catch up on news and local gossip…the latter being a tradition Chef Bev encourages in the present day!

hali‘imaile distilling company: creating hawai‘i in a bottle

Most of us already know that MauiWine uses pineapples to make their iconic pineapple wines. But did you know Hali‘imaile Distilling Company (HDC) uses pineapples to produce handcrafted spirits? I surely didn’t until I went on an HDC distillery tour at their facility in Hali‘imaile, the heart of Maui’s pineapple region.

HDC is owned by the LeVecke Family, whose history in the spirits industry spans over a half century. For the past 30 years, the LeVeckes have produced brands such as Hana Bay Rum and Whaler’s Rum, giving them ties to the Hawaiian Islands. When two of the LeVecke brothers decided to start their own micro-distillery on the island of Maui, they scoured the country in search of a like-minded master distiller who could help bring their dream to reality. Enter Mark Nigbur, a charismatic and gifted distiller in Colorado, who had made a name for himself in the industry for his unconventional distilling techniques and superior products.

35th annual kapalua wine & food festival june 9-12

Prepare for a magical weekend at next month’s 35th Annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival June 9 through 12, 2016. Local residents and our visitors enjoy this amazing yearly ‘migration’ which brings together oenophiles, gourmands and enthusiasts of the good life to celebrate, learn and experience the finest culinary trends and viniculture.

Highlights of the weekend include interactive wine tasting seminars including Globetrotting Winemakers – winemakers who make wine in two or more countries; Champagne; Family Tree, Scions of the Vine, second and third generation winemakers; New Zealand Pinot Noir; Ten-year Cabernet Retrospective, a comparison of a young vintage and a ten-year aged wine; Women Winemakers.

Featured Celebrity Chefs Hugh Acheson of Top Chef and the Food Network and Chef Michele Mazza of the renowned Il Mulino in New York City each prepare four-course tasting menus paired with rare and hard-to-find wines.

43rd annual seabury hall craft fair May 7

Seabury Hall will celebrate its 43rd annual Craft Fair from 9am – 4pm, on Saturday, May 7, 2016, on the Seabury Hall Campus in beautiful Upcountry Maui. The Craft Fair has been raising money for financial aid since 1973, giving hundreds of students the opportunity to pursue their dreams and hope for a brighter future.

The Seabury Hall Craft Fair brings together more than one hundred of Hawai‘i’s best artists and crafters, in addition to great entertainment, specialty foods, beautiful flower arrangements, exciting children’s games, a silent auction, and the island’s largest rummage sale. All proceeds from the Craft Fair support Seabury Hall’s financial aid program.