This Thanksgiving, after the delicious and filling main course, consider thinking outside the pie and serve cinnamon bread baked fresh in Kona Historical Society’s famous stone oven. This special treat is bound to be an unexpectedly sugary sweet palate cleanser at any gathering. However, if you prefer to stick to the holiday dessert classics, consider adding one of the society’s sweet or savory country loaves to your meal.

No matter what treat is chosen, take satisfaction knowing the proceeds from this Special Bake on Nov. 27 help support this community-based, nonprofit organization that has spent the past four decades collecting, preserving and sharing the history of the Kona districts and their rich cultural heritage within Hawaii.

The public is invited from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 27 to watch Kona Historical Society staff and volunteers create these special bread rolls and loaves at the stone oven, or forno, located in the pasture below the nonprofit’s headquarters and its historic general store museum in Kealakekua. Each loaf or pan of bread costs $8 and can be purchased from the white tent in front the headquarters entrance, starting around 12:45 p.m. Bread sales are on a first-come, first-serve basis and go until everything is sold out.

This Special Bake is an alternative to the regular Portuguese Stone Oven Bread Baking Program, which will not be held Nov. 28 as Kona Historical Society sites are closed in observance of Thanksgiving. However, this free program will begin again on Dec. 5.

Held every Thursday, the Portuguese Stone Oven Bread Baking Program opens to the public at 10 a.m. The Kona Historical Society crew bakes close to 100 loaves of white, wheat and sweet bread. Hawaii Island residents and visitors of all ages are invited to lend a hand by helping roll and form dough. Participants also learn about the traditional art of Portuguese bread making and the contributions of the Portuguese who arrived in Hawaii in the 1880s. While many of these immigrants worked at sugar plantations, a fair number found their way to Kona dairies and are credited for helping develop this industry.

For more information, call Kona Historical Society at 808-323-3222.