Pandemic, shipping costs sunk the century-old Maui Fair. Can a former mayor revive it?

In the 1930s, a young Jane Caban looked forward to the annual Maui County Fair, and especially the extravagant horse races that would pack the Grand Stand at the Old Kahului Fairgrounds on Puʻunēnē Avenue. 

Dozens of horses competed on the dirt track, with the top event a 1 1/16-mile race for the von Tempsky Memorial Cup. Aboard the horses were Maui riders with familiar surnames of Baldwin, Rice and Freitas.

While the horse races stopped decades ago, other parts of the fair, including a baby contest, have been a fall tradition on Maui since the community event began in 1916 when Woodrow Wilson was president.

This month would have marked the 98th fair. But instead, it is the fifth consecutive year that island residents will miss the sweet aromas of candied apples, the thrilling sights from high aboard the swing ride and the chance to reconnect with old friends at the War Memorial fairgrounds.

The COVID-19 pandemic began a downward spiral for the event, which was canceled by county lockdown orders and public safety concerns in 2020 and 2021. The only other times the fair had not come to town were during World War I and World War II. 

Attempts to revive Maui’s largest community event in 2022, 2023 and 2024 have failed. Avery Chumbley, a longtime president of the nonprofit Maui Fair Alliance, said the pandemic hiatus caused a breakdown in relationships with providers, volunteers and key organizations that were essential to running the four-day event. And since then, shipping costs of the heavy and bulky amusement rides and games became prohibitive.

In April, the alliance announced it was canceling this year’s fair. And in a move even more upsetting to people who love the event, the planning body also said it was dissolving, seemingly signaling the end of a century-old social gathering for the island.

But 72-year-old Michael Victorino, former mayor of Maui County and a longtime director of the fair, is determined to bring back the event he has cherished over the decades. He has begun the effort despite long odds.

The Maui Fair Alliance had willed one of the biggest events in the state into existence for three decades, relying on revenue sources that included fees from exhibitors and food booth operators, and corporate and private sponsorships. When the Maui County Carnival was operating, the alliance received a percentage of ride revenue as part of a contract negotiation.

But during the past few years, Chumbley said the fair alliance was hampered by limited access to the War Memorial fairgrounds, higher operating costs and skyrocketing transportation bills for shipping carnival equipment to Maui.

In 2019, the fair’s operating costs for the alliance were $740,000, with $90,000 dedicated to event security, according to Chumbley. This did not include freight expenses, which in 2018 were more than $500,000.

The major blow came after the COVID-19 pandemic with the loss of support from E.K. Fernandez, the fair’s longtime supplier of carnival rides and games since 1916. President Scott Fernandez said in a recent interview that shipping costs to Neighbor Islands have become “prohibitive” and “outrageous.”

But it did not happen overnight. In 2017, E.K. Fernandez agreed to a one-year contract for the first time, moving away from the five-year commitments because of “increased shipping rates.”  The pandemic lockdown greatly impacted the company’s shipping agent, Young Brothers, which raised its rates by 46% in 2020.

For 2024, Fernandez estimated shipping costs to bring fair rides and games to Maui to be between $750,000 and $800,000. But he said he hasn’t gotten exact quotes since the pandemic because the losses incurred from servicing Neighbor Islands, including Maui, had been unsustainable for years. Reasons also include the rising costs of flying fair workers to Maui and providing them with housing and transportation.

To navigate shipping challenges, E.K. Fernandez had previously utilized private charters with Young Brothers to secure a discounted rate. The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation Harbors Division also waived all wharf charges on the equipment shipped to Neighbor Islands as a way to support the fair, which they called a public benefit. That was before all of the neighboring island county fairs were canceled.

While battling his own health challenges, Victorino has been contacting Mainland groups that provide amusement rides to see if it is possible to handle the cost of bringing the heavy and big mechanical structures to the island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

He thinks about what the fair has meant to him and would mean to the next generations, including his four great-grandchildren.

“I continue to look around and see what I can do to bring back the fair, or some sort of fair, so the people and the children of Maui County can benefit and enjoy themselves,” he said.

Victorino began his volunteer work at the Old Kahului Fairgrounds in 1981 and later organized the American Youth Soccer Organization booth when the fair moved to the War Memorial complex in 1989. He served as fair director from 1997 to 2006 and continued to manage parking and advise booths, transforming Maui’s largest gathering into an economic boon. 

So he knows what he needs to accomplish, starting with securing thrill rides like the “Zipper,” “Pharaoh’s Fury” and, of course, a Ferris wheel.

“I don’t want to bother anyone until I have something firm, like the rides lined up,” he said. “Once I have that, I can start coordinating everything else.”

This is not the first time the beloved fair seemed like it was canceled for good. In 1989, Alexander & Baldwin decided to develop the Old Kahului Fairgrounds, and the Maui County Fair & Racing Association bowed out. But George Ito, known as “Mr. Maui Fair,” came to the rescue by spearheading the movement to transform the fair into a nonprofit organization and relocate it to its new home at the War Memorial complex. 

It was one more transition for the fair, which had come a long way since showcasing Daisy the elephant at the old Wailuku ballpark (now Wells Park) in 1916. 

Still, century-old traditions continued until 2019. In addition to the baby contest, where newborns are judged by their healthiness, there always have been the Joy Zone of rides and attractions by E.K. Fernandez and food booths run by community members raising money for worthy causes.

Although the fair has been revived before, Fernandez said his business would need a subsidy to do even a scaled-down version, because raising ticket prices — which he doesn’t want to do — would not raise enough money.

“We’re willing to come, but you have to subsidize the cost. … You have to meet us halfway,” Fernandez said. “Otherwise, economically, it doesn’t work.”

The fair alliance had only utilized a county grant once in its lifetime — in 1989, and they paid it back within two years, Chumbley said, adding: “We may be the only nonprofit that’s ever paid back a grant, and we did that because we wanted to operate independently from the county, not to be pressured for funding.”

During Victorino’s tenure as mayor, a wave of canceled events swept through Maui as COVID-19 precautions took hold. Notable events nixed during the pandemic also included the Valley Isle Keiki Fest and the Maui Friday town parties — of which half still haven’t recovered four years later.

The decline in membership at the three local chapters of the Kiwanis, primarily due to people moving off-island because of the pandemic and cost of living, has significantly impacted the Keiki Fest, according to Vanessa Kina of the Kiwanis Club of the Valley Isle.

And without the county fair or Keiki Fest, the local Kiwanis clubs have seen a reduction in community projects and travel opportunities for its Key Club youth members at Maui High, King Kekaulike and Baldwin High School.

“We’ve been hurting,” said Catherine Shimizu of the Kiwanis Club of Kahului, who used to coordinate the Kiwanis’ malasadas booth and 75 volunteers who ran it for 15 years. “Back then, all we had to do was one fundraiser a year. At the fair, you had people automatically come to you. There’s no way you could have that same reach anywhere else.”

Despite the public health concern of COVID-19, Fernandez said he voiced disagreement with the decision to cancel the fair in 2021. However, amid the ongoing challenges of rebuilding Lahaina from the 2023 fire, he said the fair now is not a must-have.

“They got to get their housing situation back together,” he said. “They got to get the economy back together. They have so many challenges. This has to be number 800 on the list of 800.”

Maui County communications officials declined to comment about the county fair, stating all efforts and resources are currently focused on wildfire recovery.

Maui County Parks & Recreation Department Director Patrick McCall said while the status of the fair remains uncertain, the county facilities traditionally used for the event are available — except for the War Memorial Gymnasium, which is undergoing renovations.

While 90,000 people attended the last fair in 2019, the 44 fundraising booths were not sold out.

“It’s all a sign of the times,” said Chumbley, who’d been involved with the fair for 38 years. “It was a generational issue. You always participated or came to the fair, and you as a community organization gave time, and you helped people. As things changed in society, there was less interest. People had other things to do.”

Victorino said it may have been similar circumstances that led to the decision to dissolve the alliance.

“Maybe people stepped back because they were getting older and feeling under-appreciated,” he said. “I believe that’s what led them to say, ‘No, enough.’”

For Caban, now 92, and other Maui residents young and old, the fair was an outward expression of a unique community spirit, best captured by the motto, “Nō Ka ‘Oi” (the best).

But now, she said she doesn’t think it’s the right time to bring back the fair.

“A lot of people have moved away from home and didn’t want to leave Hawaiʻi, and they’re dying to come back,” she said. “It’s hard to come back. Everything is so expensive. I can imagine how costly the fair would be.”

While rising shipping costs are often cited as a primary concern, Fernandez says “the bigger challenge is how you organize and replace the knowledge base that the Maui Fair Alliance had. That’s a heavy lift.” 

From fundraising to garnering commercial vendors and coordinating staff and volunteers, the horticulture section, animal exhibits and parking logistics, the planning required is extensive.

“What really needs to be highlighted is the incredible effort the Maui Fair Alliance put into organizing this event,” Fernandez added. “They deserve absolute respect for their dedication over the years.

“The bottom line is that the horse has been let out of the barn, and I don’t know how to get it back in.”