The Waialua Farmers
Market |
The
Waialua Farmers Market |
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Every one lines up
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Farmers Seting up!
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Flowers |
Fruits
& Vegtables
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67-106 Kealohanui St
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Great Dressing |
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Trip Advisor Japan Links |
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Beautiful Flowers every Saturday![]() |
Parking lot fills
up
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The 8:00am Waialua Farmers Market starting line. You half to wait for the line to drop or you will get scoldings from edith!


Local color
Two Saturday markets on the North Shore offer products made and grown in Hawaii.
The pace is slower, in contrast to the high-energy city markets. In the parking
lot at Sunset Beach Elementary School, the North Shore Country Market sells
Hawaii-made crafts and food: flowers, shave ice, grass-fed beef burgers from
North Shore Cattle Co., shell jewelry, tie-dyed shirts and, perfect for this
month, heart-shaped pillar candles in pastel colors. Artist Jessica Wall creates
the candles and collects local shells that are embedded in designs around
the base.
At the tiny Waialua Farmers’ Market, fruits and ethnic vegetables are
for sale; the local atmosphere is free. At the site of the old Waialua Sugar
Mill, a small group of immigrant farmers, former sugar workers, sell produce
from plots of land they lease from Dole Foods Hawaii. The arrangement was
made when the sugar mill closed in 1996 and the workers were left jobless.
The Waialua Farmer’s Cooperative was formed to help the workers make
the transition to farming.
Edith Ramiscal, president of the Waialua Farmers’ Cooperative, stated
that her goal is to expand the farmers’ market to more of a community
market and to bring more business to Waialua.
“I grew up in Waialua and I’ve seen it go downhill, so I’m
trying to help this town out. I’m interested in helping the town out
and keeping it country,” she said.
“We want it to be kind of a tourist destination because after all, Waialua
Sugar Mill was the hub of Haleiwa, Waialua, Waimea, Mokuleia. … We want
people to experience this,” Ramiscal declared. “And this is how
Hawaii was born, with the immigrant farmers, the immigrant laborers that came
in.”
On Saturday mornings, the Waialua market sells out in a couple of hours: apple
bananas, tomatoes, garlic, lima beans, taro and more exotic produce such as
kabocha pumpkins and katuday.
David Ancheta, standing near his family’s vegetable stand at the Waialua
market, noticed a shopper puzzling over a bag of katuday. He offered some
suggestions for preparing the edible white flower. First, you cook it a little
bit, said Ancheta. “Then add spices, tomato, vinegar and salt, whatever
you like,” he added. “Good for blood pressure.”
“I learn about the vegetables as I go along,” commented Goodwill,
who shops weekly at the Waialua market. “I try to experiment with new
ones at least once a month, and they tell me, oh, this gets boiled, this gets
stewed, or you cook this with pork, it’s really good.”
“The farmers’ market is a little bit social too, although you
don’t talk too much before the market because you have to go get the
goods,” she added. “But it’s a nice, social way to start
the weekend.”
By Mary Young Oahu
Island News.com
Thank you for your interest in the Waialua Sugar Mill and Surrounding area.