Program areas at KHS
Kona coffee living history farm. Patrons and students are inspired by the lives of pioneer coffee farmers. Costumed interpreters demonstrate japanese cooking using traditional implements and a wood-burning stove, and demonstrate how coffee is picked and processed, while explaining the role of the donkey in coffee farming. Visitors leave the site with an appreciation of the critical role of children in the success of the coffee farm, and the contrast between their own modern life and the family of 1920's Kona mauka. Japanese american and local immigrant culture, in particular, is emphasized in program performances and cultural craft fair activities.
Portuguese stone oven. Participants visiting on thursdays participate in rolling and panning the dough as part of the authentic bread-baking program. An important learning outcome is a better understanding of portuguese traditions, including how sweetbread become part of Hawaii's culture. About 100 loaves of bread are baked and sold each week to a steady stream of customers, furthering their appreciation of Kona's culture.
H.n. Greenwell store museum. Visitors enter the stone building constructed ca. 1870, where imported and exported goods form the late 19th century are displayed and explained, with opportunities for visitors to touch and experience the objects. Trained and costumed interpreters discuss subjects including ranching, dairying, land use, ethnic groups, and trade with the outside world.
Other activities and programs include exhibits, festivals celebrating local culture and holidays, award-winning publications, special events, jeep tours to remote cultural sites, archival projects and reference, films, podcasts, oral histories, and theater productions featuring characters from Kona's history, lectures, and archival projects, and tours of historic cemeteries.