Koloa Plantation Days History
Koloa Plantation Days is a celebration of Hawaii’s heritage and its sugar industry. In 1835, the Old Sugar Mill of Koloa became the first commercially successful sugar plantation in HawaiĘ»i, and the beginning of what would become Hawaii’s largest industry. Although the mill and fields are idle in Koloa, many people in Hawaii are former workers or descendants of plantation workers who came from many different ways of life. Koloa Plantation Days brings people to Kauai’s South shore to celebrate aspects of the plantation lifestyle that we are still connected to.
Sugarcane was a canoe plant brought to Hawaii by voyagers, and raised by ancient Hawaiians on small personal plots. Much later 980 acres were leased from King Kamehameha III and large-scale commercial production began. The plantation was established here due to the overall fertility of the soil, proximity to a good port, and location near running water for processing power. By 1837, the mill produced over 4,000 pounds of sugar and 700 gallons of molasses.
It takes approximately 5 million gallons of water per acre to bring a crop of sugar ready to harvest during a two-year growing cycle. Just 20% of that amount comes from rain so the pioneer sugar planters solved water shortages by building irrigation systems that included aqueducts (1856), artesian wells (1879), and tunnels and mountain wells (1898).
In 1985, a 150 year celebration of plantation lifestyle was held in Koloa, and became the beginning of Koloa Plantation Days. This festival offers events that entertain as well as educate participants about old Hawaii and the plantation days. Displays of trains, field equipment, clothing, lamps, items of everyday camp life, photos, and other artifacts are displayed. Hawaiian games, historic videos, guided walks, cooking demonstrations, and historic displays throughout Koloa are a few of these entertaining and enlightening opportunities to get families involved in Koloa’s heritage.
