People’s Open Market at Pōka‘i Bay expands at Kapolei Hale
In an effort to improve the People’s Open Market (POM) experience for customers, farmers, and vendors, the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation is modifying its Friday market by relocating the Pōka‘i Bay POM to Kapolei Hale and doubling the market time at this particular location.
Currently, the POM at Pōka‘i Bay Beach Park only hosts one consistent vendor and sees limited public participation. The relocated market in Kapolei already has interest from seven vendors and will provide an extended opportunity for customers to shop.
Beginning Friday, July 2 the final stop for the Friday markets will be at Kapolei Hale, located at 1000 Ulu‘ōhia Street, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Prior to that, Friday POMs begin at Hālawa District Park (from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.) then progress to ‘Ewa Beach Community Park (from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.).
“These markets are an excellent way to provide island residents with good, affordable, produce, while also giving local farmers the chance to connect with and sustain their communities,” said DPR Director Laura H. Thielen. “We can’t wait to see this new location helping to fulfill the markets’ original mission established back in the 1970’s by the Fasi’s.”
The People’s Open Market program began in 1973, under the direction of then Mayor Frank. F. Fasi and his wife Mrs. Joyce Fasi, as a way for farmers to sell off-grade, surplus produce and natural goods at a discounted price to communities who did not have easy access to healthy foods.
Today there are 25 People’s Open Markets that operate in neighborhoods across Oʻahu.
The last market relocation occurred in March 2018 when the Mother Waldron Neighborhood Park market was moved to ‘Āina Moana (Magic Island) in Ala Moana Regional Park.
We encourage farmers and vendors interested in taking part at the People’s Open Markets to contact us for more details. For additional information, including the times and locations of each of the rotating markets, please visit the markets’ dedicated website at bit.ly/peoplesmarkets , call (808) 768-9299, or email [email protected].
