Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 9, 1 September 1988 — Civic Club Project Restores Thatched Roof of Maui Hale [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Civic Club Project Restores Thatched Roof of Maui Hale

A beautiful example of an old-style Hawaiian hale ean be seen at Kepaniwai Heritage Garden park in Iao Valley, Maui. An enormous amount of manpower over a year's time went into cleaning and repairing the thatched roof, through the leadership and hard work of the Central Maui Hawaiian Civic Club.

According to Anthony Dwyer "Sonny" Fernandez of the Central Maui club, the project was undertaken at the beginning of the 1987 Ho'olako "Year of the Hawaiian" and represents one of the club's biggest projects yet. They enlisted the leadership of Paul Canto, president of the Central Maui Hawaiian Civic Club and Edward Marciel to get the job done. Marciel, born and raised in Hawaiian grass huts in Kaupo, Maui, supervised the project fromstart

to finish during the year. Volunteers accomplished the work in their free time. While pili grass was used in earlier times, today it is scarce in Kaupo and Kahakuloa, said Fernandez. However, with the help of Harry Mitchell of Keanae, they used a very similar grass whieh grows wild in the Huelo area. The grass must be cut at the base and tied into bundles. These are left to dry and then tied to the bamboo runners on the roof of the hale.

The group also removed a rooftop ridge from the hale whieh was designed by an architect and not used in traditional hale. The completed hale with its stone walls is very inviting and looks completely at home in its garden setting in the park.

The finished hale, with its Westernized doorway, an inviting and striking reminder of a time not so long ago.