It’s fall in Upcountry Maui. School is in full swing, temperatures have cooled, and the pumpkins are ripe for picking. It’s also the time of year that the Kindergarten through 8th grade students at Carden Academy of Maui are making the Pukalani campus ready for their 5th Annual Fall Festival on Saturday, October 19 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Open to the community, the school grounds are transformed for the fun with a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, carnival games and prizes, arts & crafts, a Scholastic book fair, entertainment, and local food. Admission of $1 benefits neighboring Pukalani Elementary BackPack Buddies program to provide weekend food for kids.
“We look forward to our Fall Festival every year. It’s an opportunity to open our doors to the community and let them visit our campus and meet our wonderful students,” said Nina Sato, head of school for Carden Academy of Maui. “The children work hard at putting this event together with the help of their parents, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone.
“Carden Academy is committed to educating the whole child, and the Fall Festival is an opportunity to experience what that means. We have items from our Carden Garden, arts & crafts stations, live entertainment – all produced by our students – and our students are involved in the festival as a service to their community.”
A Farm Affair
Farmer Tom’s Kula-grown Organic Pumpkin Patch is at the heart of the fall celebration. Large quantities of organic pumpkins – all shapes and sizes – have been carefully tended for this special day. There will be pumpkins of all sizes for sale for creating your jack-o-lanterns. Families enjoy strolling through the vast selection and picking “just the right one” to haul home.
Ohana Ranch Maui will bring in some of their farm animals and miniature horses for a petting zoo. Kids of all ages can snuggle up to the fluffy critters.
Food, Food and More
Maui’s island bounty is offered amid a vibrant market set-up to sell fresh, local produce and flowers from favored vendors including Evonuk Farms and Kula Fields. Carden student businesses Zane’s Ono Jams and Jellies and Maui Preserved are among the food vendors.
Students offer homespun products made from their own Carden Garden and home baked goodies are offered for sale. You can grab the “Dinner in a Bag” and assemble at home with Carden Garden pesto, pasta, salad, and bread included.
This year, two local food trucks will fill the center lot to bring festival-goers a taste from some of the most popular portable kitchens. Outrigger Pizza serves up their namesake woodfired pizza pies. Will you hanker for the spinach delight or Italian sausage pizza? Our bets are on the lilikoi pork pizza with aioli sauce, kalua pork, onion, bell pepper, three cheeses, and locally made lilikoi dressing.
Three’s Food Truck rolls in with an amazing menu of pohole fern and mushroom poke caprese salad with Kula mac-nut pesto; coconut crusted shrimp with a peanut ginger slaw and spiced Maui Gold pineapple chutney drizzled with Thai sweet chili; panko crusted ahi, avocado, and cucumber roll with Thai curry butter sauce and ginger soy; and kalua pork quesadilla with peanut ginger slaw, spiced Maui Gold pineapple chutney, and cilantro lime aioli. Local taste buds will enjoy the hurricane fries dusted with furikake, sriracha aioli, and mochi crunch.
“One of the reasons we expanded our Three’s Bar & Grill business recently to include a food truck is so that we can support great local causes like Carden Academy,” said chef/owner Jaron Blosser, Three’s Bar & Grill and Food Truck. “It’s easy to be at community events and fundraisers when we can just roll in with our own kitchen. It’s being well-received by everyone, and we’re happy to give back to Maui.”
There will be local coffee by Maui Oma Coffee, while equally-loved-and-local Da Local Banana has their signature frozen chocolate-dipped bananas on hand. The gourmet ice pops served up by Shaka Pops are handmade on Maui using island ingredients. They’ll have a variety of tropical and traditional flavors to please every palate.
Of course, hot dogs, cotton candy, and popcorn are on the menu. It wouldn’t be a festival without these mainstays.
Arts & Crafts, Games, and Entertainment
The Carden Academy middle school students have designed and built carnival games and will operate the game stations for the younger crowd as part of their community service. Activities include Maui Tumblers, a bounce house and inflatable batting cage, face painting and hula hoops. A Scholastic book fair will have books for all ages.
Arts & crafts include corn-husk doll-making, face-painting, and more. Local vendors include the following: Honi Designs, French Beach, Mauimari Ocean Jewelry,La-ti-Da Productions, Liv Dea, Maui Dog Treats, Puka Puka Plants, Randy Hufford Art, Om Maui, Doc Martin’s Sunscreen, Esky Hats, and Carden logo wear.
Live entertainment performed by Carden Academy students, Maui Chamber Orchestra, Zen Shin Taiko Drummers, Herb Andrews of Country Nights, and DJ Coach Mason (Carden Academy’s P.E. teacher.)
The Carden Academy of Maui 5th Annual Fall Festival is sponsored by A&B Properties, Inc., DeSilva Meeting Consultants, First Hawaiian Bank, First Wind Energy, Gloria N. Buckingham – A Law Corporation, Hawaii’s Handyman Services, Island Rents, Mana Foods, Maui Oil Co., and MediSpa Maui.
About Carden Academy of Maui
Carden Academy of Maui is an independent, non-denominational private school located in Pukalani, Maui. Founded in 1998, the school serves children in Kindergarten through 8th grade with one class per grade and a maximum enrollment of 154 students. Carden’s mission is educating the whole child through a balance of academic excellence, character development, and enrichment through the arts in a nurturing, small classroom setting. Applications are accepted year-round. Carden Academy of Maui is located at 55A Maka`ena Place in Pukalani, Maui. For more information, visit the website at www.cardenacademyofmaui.or
