Starting June 18, the public is invited every Thursday to learn about the traditional art of Portuguese bread making, as well as the contributions of the Portuguese, who arrived in Hawaii in the 1880s and are credited for helping develop Kona’s dairy industry. There will be no public participation in the actual rolling or baking of bread.

Instead, from 10 a.m. to noon in a designated observation area, the public may watch the baking action at the stone oven, or forno, located in the Kalukalu Pasture, just below the Society’s headquarters and historic general store museum in Kealakekua. They will discover the importance and operation of stone ovens like this one in our community and throughout Hawaii. They’ll learn how rustic breads made by the Portuguese community were sold, bartered, shared or well-loved among other ethnic groups. Such exchanges helped make sweet bread an iconic Hawaii specialty food item.

The in-person observance of the weekly baking at the Society’s stone oven is limited to a total of 10 people, which includes staff members. If capacity is reached, the people looking to enter the pasture will have to wait until a party of their size leaves. Everyone in the pasture is required to wear face masks or cloth coverings and maintain the minimum social distancing requirement of 6 feet apart. To help keep everyone who enters the pasture safe, barriers will be set up, an observation area established, signage outlining the safety protocols visible, and chalk paint applied to the grass. No seating will be provided. The picnic tables in the pasture will be completely off limits. The restrooms at the Society’s main office will be closed to the public.

Following the end of each bake, Kona Historical Society will sell approximately 80 loaves of sweet and white bread under the tent fronting the white building near the Society’s headquarters and belonging to its neighbors, Greenwell Farms. This is a drive-thru market, meaning customers must stay in their vehicles, drive to the tent following the directional signs, and wear a mask when purchasing bread. Each loaf of bread cost $8. All sales via cash or credit card are on a first-come, first-serve basis. No preorders and no reservations of bread will be accepted. Between sales, the Society’s iPad will be sanitized. Bread sales begin around 2 p.m. and last until 5 p.m. or everything is sold out.

Leftover bread will be donated the following day to organizations in Kona that are currently helping feed the hungry. If your organization would like to receive leftover bread loaves from weekly bakes, please email Kona Historical Society at khs@konahistorical.org.

With each bag of bread, customers will receive a new item: a flyer featuring a historic story from a community member. These flyers are more than just an acknowledgement or sharing of a collection of people, each with their own unique experiences and recollections. It’s a way to celebrate and enrich the public’s understanding of our island’s diverse communities by hearing from the people who live in them. The Society believes such stories can enrich one’s awareness of how the past informs its present and future. These stories can also spark empathy, curiosity and engagement about surrounding people, places and things. For example, Kona paniolo Frank Silva shares how his father would make more money selling his mother’s homemade Portuguese bread than pounding rocks in the 1940s.

For more information about this program, go to click here.