(Source: The Garden Island)
The Kapaa Neighborhood Center will be hosting a book release party for “Images of America: Kapaa,” which details the history of Kapaa, from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. “We’ve shared the stories with some of the seniors that have lived in Kapaa their entire lives, and some of them hadn’t heard them,” Hulsman said. “We got some great information.” Hulsman said the team also shared information with the Kauai Historical Society and is donating photos the society doesn’t have for its collection.
The book release event will kick off with a proclamation from Mayor Bernard Carvalho and a PowerPoint presentation put together by Judie Fernandez, one of the book’s authors. After the presentation, there will be entertainment and a chance to buy a copy of the book. The book was written by local author Marta Hulsman (manager of the Kapaa Neigborhood Center) amongst others. Hulsman saw the book as an opportunity to create a fundraiser from the book. The book was published on Aug 17 and has already sold 60 copies at $22 a piece.
Book Summary:
Kapaa, like most rural towns on Kauai and many in Hawaii, got its start in the 19th century as a sugar town. But, within five years, Kapaas sugar mill was gone; the little village almost disappeared. By the early 20th century, Kapaa was once again a thriving community. Self-reliant merchants and shopkeepers, first mostly Chinese and then Japanese, competed with the neighboring plantation store. Homesteaders populated the hills behind Kapaa, and two pineapple canneries offered employment. Several movie theaters provided alternatives to the bars and taxi-dance halls. By the 1970s, pineapple, too, was gone, and Kapaa faced new challenges. Today, new entrepreneurs working alongside the old provide entertainment for a new clientele of pleasure-seekers, tourists.