What Stands Between Hāwī's Saturday Market and the Banyans Is a Restroom

If the Saturday market isn't under the banyan trees in Hāwī town anymore, where did it go, and is it coming back?

It's a short walk away, and it can come back. What stands in the way is less about insurance or politics than you might guess. The biggest piece is a building that doesn't exist yet: a public restroom at the banyan property. As of this fall, that restroom has a line in the County of Hawaiʻi's capital budget.

Where the market is this Saturday

The market now goes by the North Kohala Community Market. The September 25, 2026 calendar in Kohala Mountain News lists it on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at the Hub mural. That's the mural at the Kohala Village Hub, on the Kohala Village Inn property at 55-514 Hawi Road. Older listings still online give 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The 2026 newspaper calendars say noon, so plan around noon.

The Hub is more than a parking lot with a painted wall. According to the North Kohala Community Resource Center, the Kohala Resilience Hub grew out of the community's response to the pandemic. It works to coordinate local organizations around basic needs, health and wellness, and emergency preparedness. Kathy Matsuda and Kimi Vakaʻuta are listed as its project leads. So the market landed somewhere already set up to host neighbors. That helps explain why the move has held.

Why it didn't go back under the trees

The first public explanation came in spring. The May 22, 2026 issue of Kohala Mountain News reported, in its notes from the North Kohala Community Development Plan Advisory Group, that "Surety has blocked the return of the Saturday Farmers' Market to under the banyans, due to liability concerns." It added that the market would continue at the Village Inn. The same report said the market had been rebranded the North Kohala Community Market. It also said the market and the First Wednesday Night Market were moving to new management, with the Farmers' Union Foundation covering insurance and overhead.

By August, the advisory group's meeting minutes showed the problem more clearly. The market team reported it was operating under Hawaiʻi Farmers Union insurance. The minutes say relocation to the preferred site "remains blocked by restroom and road-access issues tied to the adjacent landowner." The same minutes add one more requirement:

"A permanent relocation to the banyan tree site remains the goal. $1.5 million was approved in the county budget for restrooms at the PONC parcel, which may help move the relocation forward. The parcel also needs a steward."

That gives three conditions for going home: restrooms, road access, and someone to care for the land. Of the three, the restroom is the only one with a dollar figure and a project name attached.

The banyans are a county park

The trees don't belong to a private landlord who might lease the space someday. County records name the parcel the "Hawi Banyan Trees Property," TMK 5-5-015:042. The County's 2017 annual report for its open-space program, known locally as PONC, lists the acquisition date as February 2015. PONC stands for Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation. In practice, the shade trees at the center of Hāwī town have been public land for more than a decade.

The county's current capital budget is Ordinance 26-45, covering fiscal year 2026-27. Inside it is a project sheet from the Department of Parks and Recreation titled "DPR - Banyan Trees Park Comfort Station," at that same TMK. James E. Hustace submitted it on May 21, 2026. It lists $1,500,000 as the total county funds needed this fiscal year. The project description reads, "Development of a new comfort station at Banyan Trees Park in the Hawi Town Center to support community and public users." Under justification, the sheet notes, "Community concerns exists around conditions."

The sheet doesn't give a construction start date, and no public schedule for the comfort station has been posted. Even so, the restroom has moved from a wish in meeting notes to a named, located, priced county project. Of everything keeping the market at the mural, that's the piece most likely to move first.

Here is how the pieces line up:

The bottom row is the one already solved, and solving it is what kept the market running this year.

The day of the week is also up for discussion

While the location waits on the county, the day itself could change sooner. The August minutes say the management team is "considering moving the market to Sunday to avoid competing with the larger Waimea market." The team is running a community survey first, "after pushback on an earlier attempt to change the day."

The survey form is linked from the advisory group's agriculture page. No result has been published. The latest newspaper calendar still lists Saturday, so Saturday is the day for now. The advisory group's September agenda noted that its Agriculture group did not meet in August and had a meeting set for September 24. If you have a view on Saturday versus Sunday, the survey is the place to give it, and it's open to the public.

What the market is asking for

Being at the Hub mural doesn't mean standing still. The August minutes list improvements underway at the current site: shade, greening, and wind mitigation, plus work toward Wi-Fi for vendors. Anyone who has stood in a Kohala breeze holding a paper plate will see why wind made the list.

The team is also recruiting vendors, especially:

• Bakers
• Coffee and beverage sellers
• Meat and dairy vendors
• Entertainment

Stall fees run $20 to $40, with a $10 discount for Hawaiʻi Farmers Union members. The team also helps vendors meet insurance and licensing requirements. If you've been selling sourdough to neighbors out of your kitchen, or you have a coffee cart idea, the market has said plainly that it wants to hear from you. The licensing help matters because the rules for selling food are the part that stops most first-time vendors.

The Wednesday market shares the same team

The same management also runs the evening market on the first Wednesday of each month. The next one falls on Wednesday, November 4.

The listings disagree on details, so here are both. Big Island Now lists the Kohala Night Market from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Kohala Resilience Hub Barn, behind Kohala Village Inn at 55-514 Hawi Road. It describes food and beverage trucks, crafts, baked goods, produce, gift items, information booths, and discounted booths for keiki entrepreneurs. The September issue of Kohala Mountain News listed the October 7 night market from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hub Mural, with "food trucks, craft vendors, music." Either way, it's the same property. Arriving by 4 covers both versions.

One more monthly date sits close by. ʻOhana Niu holds a fruit-and-plant share on the last Wednesday of each month, noon to 3 p.m., at St. Augustine's Church. That puts it on November 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

Your next three dates

1. Saturday, October 31, 8 a.m. to noon. North Kohala Community Market at the Kohala Village Hub mural, 55-514 Hawi Road.
2. Wednesday, November 4, starting at 4 p.m. Kohala Night Market at the Hub, with listed closing times of 6 or 7 p.m.
3. Wednesday, November 25, noon to 3 p.m. ʻOhana Niu fruit-and-plant share at St. Augustine's Church.

Between now and then, the survey on the advisory group's agriculture page is open. The banyan trees stay a short walk up the road, waiting on a restroom, a road answer, and a steward.

I grew up between Waimea and North Kohala, and the banyans have always felt like Hāwī's front porch to me. If you want to talk through what the Banyan Trees Park project could mean for the town center, or you're simply curious about the parcels around it, Denni Keyes is glad to share what she knows. Let's Connect.