Finding aloha after devastation: Maui is rebuilding after Lahaina firestorm

The island of Maui is suffering a profound sense of loss since an August 2023 wildfire laid waste

to the old Hawaiian capital of Lahaina. The fires ravaged the coastal community

a bustling center of art and culture, leaving 102 people dead and thousands more without their

homes or jobs. The journey to healing has been long and rocky, but there's a bright spot on the

community calendar in early October with the return of the Maui County Fair

My name is Daryl Fujiwara and I am, oh my goodness, what should I call myself

The fair director, I guess, is what we can use for this hat

Fujiwara grew up attending the fair before it closed in 2019 due to financial issues and the pandemic

Now he's been charged with resurrecting it. Earlier this year, the Maui County Council unanimously passed Mayor Richard Bisson's proposal

they allocated a little over million from the General Fund to Festivals of Aloha led by Fujiwara My favorite memory is actually waiting for my mom to finish volunteering So she would volunteer every year with the Kamehameha Schools

Alumni Association and they would either be doing admission or they would be doing games

and doing the the money part of it you know to get the tokens to play and then we would go and

eat and have a good time after because she volunteered. It was free entry

Festivals of Aloha organizes local events and often works closely with Maui County

As its director, one of Fujiwara's other current projects is Kuhaniya Maui

a collection of events honoring the memory of Lahaina and the 102 people lost to the 2023 wildfires

I'm from Lahaina, born and raised, graduated from Lahaina Luna 2001. And so it was very easy for me to take on this responsibility because it my town Maui has struggled to move beyond the fires that raged across the island and leveled Lahaina But it still making steps toward healing One change is the July appointment of Dory Booth Hawaii first fire marshal in 46 years

who has promised to, quote, build a fire protection system that reflects the strength and resilience of Hawaii's people

Also moving forward is the over $4 billion global settlement benefiting victims of the Maui fires

Claims from those affected are accepted through October 1st. On the ground, debris has been completely removed and hundreds of permits have been issued for rebuilding homes and businesses in Lahaina, reshaping a town filled with history into something new

Permits are being ushered through the, at times, slow system to help locals affected by the fires find more secure housing in a difficult market

In late July, a Maui County Council Committee recommended the approval of an amended version of Bisson's proposal to phase out some short-term rentals and turn them into long-term rentals

A highly contentious plan intended to open up more affordable housing for locals the bill brought hours of testimonies before the committee Many of those who testified wore red Lahaina Strong shirts and spoke in

support of the bill, while other community members stood against it, pointing to the

potential job loss, decrease in tax revenue, and heavy economic impact. S.A.N. reported on the

debate in early May as the bill waited to go into committee. Now Fujiwara hopes the fair will help

unite the Maui community. But he's got a tall task with just a few months to bring it all together

We have to continue to have community events and make sure that people are seeing each other

that there's opportunities to gather and see each other and check on each other. So I feel like

after that it was even more so of a calling to make sure we bring back the fair, which is

one of the biggest gatherings of all, you know, for so many years here in Maui

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan