JARS v63n1 - ARS Western Regional Conference, Hilo, Hawaii

ARS Western Regional Conference, Hilo, Hawaii
Sherla D. Bertelmann
Kea'au, Hawaii

On behalf of the Hawaii Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, thank you to all who attended the 2008 Western Regional & Board Meeting and Vireya Seminar held in Hilo, Hawaii this past September.

For those that were not able to attend, here's a recap. Our chapter held its monthly meeting the Sunday starting the convention week. Everything was in place and everyone felt good considering "Murphy" of "Murphy's Law" had reared his head a couple of times already. The registration table went up on Tuesday and our first tour happened on Wednesday.

One of our goals in hosting the conference was to expose our guests to places not on the "tourist" path. Our island is very diverse, from lava fields to rich forests, from a dry side to a wet side, and from sea level to the top of a volcano. So, our first tour day was set with diversity in mind.

We visited a vireya nursery, an organic fruit farm and a 5-acre palm garden with 5000 palms on it. In between we traveled on what the locals call "Red Road" along the coast of Puna that dead ends right at a cafe where lunch was enjoyed. By the way, this was also the place of the once famous "Black Sands Beach." A nice trail has been made through the lava field that ends at the beginning of a new "Black Sands Beach" where you can see many coconuts trees already growing, with more being added all the time to replace the ones taken away by the lava. Our night consisted of a fabulous welcoming performance by a Taiko Drummers troupe, ranging in age from 7 to 71.