Maui Fil-Am Heritage Festival will honor sugar cane plantation workers with a chef cook-off theme of “The Last Harvest” on Oct. 15.

October has been designated Filipino-American History month throughout the state, “to commemorate the contributions of Filipino-Americans to the history and heritage of Hawai‘i and the United States.”

The Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce Foundation is hosting a huge celebration: the Maui Fil-Am Heritage Festival® at Maui Mall in Kahului. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Now in its sixth year, the festival is touted as a family event that promotes and perpetuates the Filipino culture. This year, the festival will commemorate the last sugar plantation in Hawai‘i, and bid farewell to an industry that played an important role our island’s history, culture and lifestyle for so many decades.

The 2010 Census shows Filipinos constitute the largest Asian ethnicity in Hawai‘i, and this festival  brings the community together with a crowd of more than 9,000.

The highlight of the day is the Master P-Noy Chef Cook Off featuring the Kau Kau Tin, honoring the plantation workers with the theme “The Last Harvest.”  The hour-long competition will celebrate the plantation culture, using sugarcane as one of the featured products, plus three mystery ingredients to be unveiled at the cook off, which starts at 11:30 a.m. Chefs competing against 2015 champion Chef Ritchard Cariaga of Andaz Maui will be Chef Aris Aurelio of Ko at the Fairmont Kea Lani, and Chef Gemsley Balagso of The Plantation House in Kapalua. Sheldon Simeon serve as guest host for this exciting “Battle Kau Kau Tin.”

Learn more about the range of events and activities at the Maui Fil-Am Festival webpage.