Maui County Fair’s return faces a $500,000 fundraising hurdle from rising costs

The Maui County Fair is back Oct. 2-5 at the War Memorial Complex after a five-year absence, but organizers are now faced with the challenge of fundraising an additional $500,000 for infrastructure beyond the $1.5 million already allocated by the Maui County Council.

In a Tuesday morning meeting of the Council’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee, fair organizers revealed that the fair’s long-awaited return has been complicated by rising costs.

Festivals of Aloha Executive Director Daryl Fujiwara, who is coordinating the event, gave a PowerPoint presentation and told council members that reconstructed food booths will be one of the big new costs.

“After our crew and our carpenters had taken a look at the old booths, it doesn’t seem that any of them are salvageable,” he said. “And that was not an anticipated cost in our budget.”

“We’re working to fundraise for them,” Fujiwara said. “But I can share some brief numbers with you… Just for the booths, it’s coming out to about $340,000. That’s for 44 of those units. And electrical to hook them all up and get everything together is looking at $180,000.”

He pointed out that the total is nearly $500,000 that “we’re needing to fundraise to make sure we’re able to afford all of this amazing fun. The grounds infrastructure and everything about the fair has been almost like a puzzle, and we’re piecing things slowly together… now in the next couple of weeks, it’ll be kind of hyped up.”

The to-do list of details needed to bring together an event — of the magnitude of the Maui County Fair — is daunting. It includes connecting power, getting lighting, ensuring there’s plumbing, waste management and portable luas; that is, porta-potties.

“So in terms of costs, a lot of these have all gone up like exponentially,” Fujiwara said. “And I’ll share for the porta-potties, you know, we went out to bid with every single company on Maui, and everyone turned us down immediately.”

However, he credited Sherri Grimes, the longest-serving former Maui Fair director, 2006-08, and managing director from 2009-19, with helping current fair organizers connect with a portable toilet vendor.

“She went back to the old vendor and was able to work out a contract. But that cost, or that contract, is coming with a nice price tag of $66,000 for the portable potties. That’s to drop them (off). That’s to clean them and manage them every day. And so (that’s) one of the hardest jobs of the fair, obviously.”

As far as seeking sources of fundraising, Fujiwara said that, “just fairly recently we finally got our sponsorship package out, and we’ve already heard from three of them. So we’re slowly, hopefully… ramping up, and we’ll be able to meet all of our budgetary needs.”

These new financial hurdles come after years of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more recent skyrocketing shipping costs. These challenges eventually led to the dissolution of the Maui Fair Alliance, the nonprofit that traditionally organized the event.

The $1.5 million in county funds is designated for operations, personnel, and marketing, with additional revenue expected from sponsorships and admission fees.

Nevertheless, Maui County Managing Director Josiah Nishita emphasized the fair’s importance.

“For a lot of members of our community, it’s kind of reinvigorating those kind of traditions and bringing the community back together that is making so many people so excited to have this happen,” he said.

While the overall footprint will remain the same, organizers are making several key changes and addressing other logistical hurdles:

• Gymnasium construction: With the War Memorial Gymnasium under construction, art and other exhibits will be relocated to a new, off-site location, probably at a nearby shopping center, which will also serve as a free parking and shuttle hub.
• Student contests: The fair is introducing modern competitions, including an esports tournament at the Baldwin High School gymnasium and a digital media contest for students.
• Parade logistics: With 97 organizations interested in the parade and only 100 slots, organizers are working to “get a little creative” with staging (and a priority for safety) after a major staging area was lost to solar panel installation at University of Hawaiʻi Maui College.
• Transportation improvements: A deal with Expeditions will provide ferry service and shuttles for Lānaʻi residents, and a similar solution for Molokaʻi residents is in the works. The fair will also use the Wailuku garage for parking.
• Disabled access: Organizers are focusing on accessibility, including a special fair day on Friday for attendees with special needs and an ADA-accessible first-aid trailer.
• Zero-Waste planning: While a zero-waste plan is being considered, Fujiwara noted it is very costly and are exploring partnerships with recycling businesses.
• Insurance: The county required a $10 million blanket insurance policy, and vendors will pay $85 to be covered by it.

Fujiwara said tackling the fair’s planning has been “a huge learning lesson” for those involved.

The county Department of Parks and Recreation is assisting, and Director Patrick McCall said, that after such a long hiatus, the fair now “is basically a new event.”

“And, therefore, in our plans we’ve just taken contingencies into account, and we’ll be flexible, and we’ll work because things that were in existence in 2019 are no longer in existence,” McCall said. “We will continue to work with Daryl and his organization and try to make this a positive event for the community.”

The Oct. 2 opening day fair parade will close nearby streets beginning at 4:15 p.m. for the parade down Kaʻahumanu Avenue. That day, the fair will run until 11 p.m., he said. Special fair day will be on Friday.

Budget Committee Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura deferred further discussion.

“I’m sure we’re going to hear more about the fair,” she said.

At their Aug. 12 meeting, council members will consider draft Resolution 25-163 authorizing the fair’s use of the War Memorial Special Events Complex, Keōpūolani Park and the War Memorial Stadium parking lot for the fair from Oct. 2-5 with a 10-week setup period and a two-week breakdown period. The permit application estimates fair attendance at 40,000 people.