Blue Davis has been working the bar since its opening on December 12, and has only glowing remarks about the business and its owner Marlene “Sassy” Akana Hall. “She’s [Sassy] great; she gives a lot of young people a chance to work…and the food here is fresh, authentic, and portion sizes are huge,” said Davis. Blue Davis behind the bar at Lucy’s Taqueria.

      She’s not exaggerating. A wet burrito easily feeds two, and weighs in at well over a pound. Comments from customers were positive and free flowing. Many are repeat visitors. However, there were also more than a few first timers who came for the fresh flavors at a literal huge value. One woman commented, “I came because my friends kept telling me to try this place. My girlfriend said one burrito feeds her husband and her easily.” While she was talking she viewed a wet burrito arrive at a nearby table, and kind of sat in stunned silence. Her facial expression went a little blank when she realized just how much burrito she’d be taking home to share with her mom.

     Bustling and hustling was owner “Sassy,” while her youngest child, Lucy, took orders and ran the register. Sassy was a whirlwind of movement. Customers know her by the short pixie-cut hairstyle, heart tattoo on the inside of her forearm, and sparkling eyes that glow with intelligence, good humor, and well, sass. Approximately 14 other employees moved quickly in the front and in the rear kitchen prepping food, tending to tables, and keeping the “lull” moving along at a rapid pace.

     This isn’t Sassy’s first restaurant. It’s her third. Its predecessors reside in Seattle under the direction of her son. This rather energetic woman decided to return “home” to her grandmother’s place in Hilo, and raise Lucy in Hawaii during her, and her husband’s retirement. The small town mentality of who knows who, and how we’re all related through someone’s uncle’s daughter, or father’s classmate’s friend’s hanai son, is for Sassy, one of the reasons she loves Hilo. “I have nothing but amazing memories here,” she said. Growing up, Sassy would leave Ewa on O’ahu to visit with her grandmother in Hilo. Through the years, and Sassy’s varied professions, some of which included working for an airline, and being a figure skating coach at Honolulu’s Ice Palace, “Sassy” settled down, married, and moved to Seattle. Not particularly in that order. Sassy remarked that their first foray into the restaurant business was a Seattle “hole in the wall, that had six tables.” Since 1994, the taco business has sustained them well.

      Looking around, the crowd hadn’t really subsided. The doors continually opened and closed, and the line in front of the register, was usually four-to-seven people deep. “It’s been a great surprise…we’re very grateful,” she said, referring to the amount of customers they get on a near daily basis. At the bar, Davis mixed margaritas and reached for the tequila. Davis quickly commented, “if the only complaints are that we need to extend and build a full bar, or that the music is too loud, we must be doing something right.” If the satisfied expressions are any indicator, Hilo’s newest taco place should be around for a long time. Lucy’s Taqueria is open Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information call 808-315-8246, or view their menu and prices, at www.lucystaqueria.com. They are located on 194 Kilauea Avenue in downtown Hilo

“Growing Self-Reliance!”

Come celebrate and support Hawaii Island Organic Farming

Featuring “Let’s Grow Hilo” Organic Gardens Project

Enjoy Organic Food Harvested from Public Spaces

Live Music and Cultural Performances

Edible Plant Sale and Giveaways

Keiki Face Painting

Pono-Sustainability Demonstrations

And Mini Workshops

 “Let’s grow Hilo” Logo Design Contest Winner to be announced…PRIZES!!

Co-Creative Local Economy Connections all with massive ALOHA!!

Hilo Harvest

A Free, Zero Waste Fundraising Event 

Saturday, March 10, 2012 2pm – Pau! 

Mamo Street, DowntownHilo,Hawaii

$5 recommended donation for Hilo Harvest Pupu Plate

(Free Kau Kau for those who bring their own dishware!)

For more information contact Uamau Productions: 345-1411

Downtown Improvement Assoction: 935-8850

Let’sGrowHilo@hotmail.com

Saturday, February 11, 2012:

Hope you all enjoyed the festival, and our frequent visitations from the Water Dreagon throughout the day! See you all again next year for the Year of the Snake! 2nd Saturday in February 2013!

     The Hilo Downtown Improvement Association held its annual general membership meeting Wednesday January 25 to share their annual report and elect new directors.  Outgoing president Ray Robinson reported on the DIA’s activities and accomplishments in 2011 and executive director Alice Moon gave attendees a look at what’s happening in 2012.  At the meeting DIA members elected Tom DeWitt, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Adrienne Poremba, East Hawaii ad sales manager for Ke Ola Magazine, and Glen Mason, accountant for HELCO to the board of directors to fill three of four open positions.   Two board members resigned in 2011 prior to elections, Valerie Ferrari and Dolly Strazar and retiring from the board were Robinson and Dennis Taniguchi.  Remaining on the board are Jeffrey Melrose, president-elect, Lisa Best, Secretary, Amy Self, Keala Zoll, Reiki Yoshida Hamano, Jeff Harman, Steven Markham, and Jennifer Zelko.

            During the meeting Robinson thanked all board members for their service to the Downtown community giving special thanks to those who resigned or retired.  He also reported that in 2011 the organization continued to stabilize following the recession, ending the year in the black thanks to good planning and sound fiscal management.  Robinson shared highlights of some of the DIA’s accomplishments including Hilo Hula Days, which was a live Hawaiian music and hula program offered at the Mooheau Bandstand for 94 days that a cruise ship came into town.  Other accomplishments he discussed included the advent of security guards at the bus station along with the ongoing efforts to improve and address public safety and security in Downtown, the placement of several projects on the County Capital Improvement Project “wish list”, and the DIA’s continuing management of the Hilo Information Center (HIC) located at the Mooheau Bus Station.

            Moon expanded on his report by offering daily walk-in tally sheet statistics from the HIC:

• A total of 32, 800 people were directly served at the HIC
• 7,042 of them were visitors
• 2,790 of them sought information for or purchased shared ride taxi coupons
• 20,000 of them sought information for or purchased bus tickets
• 2,580 of them sought miscellaneous information

In addition to people served at the HIC, Moon tallied up all those participating in projects, programs and events coordinated by the DIA in 2011 and estimated that conservatively over 60,000 people were directly served by DIA staff, volunteers and members.  Board member and nominating committee chair Steven Markham impressed the crowd by doing some simple math: “if every one of those people spent just an average of $20 each (some spend more, some spend less or nothing), that means the DIA worked to contribute $1.2 million to the Hilo economy,” he said.

            DIA plans for this year include developing a retail shopping guide highlighting members, an earthquake and tsunami preparedness workshop in partnership with Pacific Tsunami Museum, expansion of “Let’s Grow Hilo!” landscaping efforts, development of a referral network, a social networking workshop, expansion of the DIA’s website www.downtownhilo.com, and the production of DIA’s two signature events, Hilo Chinese New Year Festival and Black & White Night.  “Partnerships will continue to play a key part in the success of the organization,” said Moon, indicating that almost every County department has been and will continue to be involved.  “Just as our County and our dues paying members support these projects, our relationships with schools, other non-profit entities, colleges and universities, visitor industry groups, and State and Federal agencies are essential to insure we are hearing what the community needs and can respond,” she said.

            Moon wrapped up her report inviting everyone to support and attend the upcoming Hilo Chinese New Year Festival, which will be held this Saturday in Downtown Hilo’s Kalakaua Park.  The Big Island Shaolin Arts Lion Dancers kick off the event at 10 a.m. with thousands of firecrackers in front of the East Hawaii Cultural Center (Kalakaua Street will be closed from midnight until 4 p.m. that day) and wind around the park offering blessings for the Year of the Dragon.  In its tenth year, the festival attracts cultural practitioners demonstrating Feng Shui, I-Ching, Chinese calligraphy and astrology, as well as a food sampling with the Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts Program.  “The park collects thousands of people enjoying the lion dancers and free performances by Kubudo Taiko, Mo Min Kuen Monkey Kung Fu, Peter Tam Hoy’s Tai Chi, and the Keiki Chinese Fashion Show and buying a large variety of Hawaiian and Asian arts, crafts, products and food.  Hilo High School Leo’s Club sets up a free Keiki Activity Tent and everyone gathers together as family for this auspicious time, so please join us,” Moon said.

Around Downtown is written by Alice Moon, executive director of the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association. Call Moon at 935-8850 or e-mail askalice@downtownhilo.com to share news about issues, events and activities.  Be sure to visit www.downtownhilo.com and www.ourdowntownhilo.com to keep up and comment on programs, projects and events.

            Happy New Year to all the members, friends and supporters of Downtown Hilo and Mahalo for everything you’ve done, are doing and will do to help sustain our historic old town’s history, culture, character and economy.  At the end of last year we shared the news about www.ourdowntownhilo.com to encourage public input on proposed projects in Downtown and we start out the New Year with a discussion about two of these projects which address one of the oldest and most talked about problems here: parking.

            Ask just about anyone who has been living, working or doing business in Downtown Hilo over the last 5 – 50 years to list the top three problems challenging us and the answer will inevitably include lack of public and employee parking.  Unfortunately the small inventory of short term parking stalls in Downtown is occasionally taken by employees and, in some cases, owners/managers of businesses who get as close to their location as possible, parking all day in two-hour parking that should be reserved for customers, clients and people visiting Downtown. Abusers know that parking tickets are only sporadically given here and apparently these folks think it is more important for them to easily access their business than to keep store front parking open.

The most recent long-range planning project to suggest working on addressing the parking problems was EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025 and there is a Parking Solutions Working Group that has met over the last several months on topic.  The group is discussing improved enforcement and educational efforts, mapping parking and empty lots (both public and private) and is compiling a list of privately owned lots currently renting parking spaces.  As a result, there are several efforts to implement some short term solutions and seek funding for some long term solutions.  Two parking expansion proposals have been posted and we are now seeking more community input on ourdowntownhilo.com.  One proposal is to immediately expand the existing 8-hour parking area on bayfront adjacent to the Mooheau Bus Station/Hilo Information Center, the other is to study the feasibility for a new parking lot to be built in the future on the Puna side of Ponahawai Street.  If you are one of those folks who’ve talked about the problems before or someone frustrated by the lack of places to park or have some creative suggestions, please go to the site and offer your comments.

Is parking only a problem in Downtown Hilo? To say “yes” is to say that traffic or lack of restrooms or crime or trash is only a problem in Downtown Hilo.  These problems face any vibrant and active area where people gather, it is how we deal with them that makes the difference.  With ourdowntownhilo.com you’ve got a chance to weigh in so to help you consider everything that’s involved in dealing with the parking problem, let’s compare another shopping and business area to Downtown. If you were to take a scale image of theWaiakeaCenterdevelopment (Ross, Office Max, WalMart, etc.) and transpose a scale image of Downtown Hilo on top of it, first of all you’d see that it is approximately one-third the size of the entire Downtown area.  Then you’d notice that parking accounts for about half the space used by theWaiakeaCenter, which means that on a bad day you’re stuck driving around and around a hot, crowded, tricky parking lot with no shade and no cover and you still end up walking a fair amount.  In Downtown 2-hour and shorter term parking is all over the place in small numbers with a few medium and small size 8-hour lots on the edges and if you park on the outskirts you end up walking just about as much as you would atWaiakeaCenter.  And at least in Downtown Hilo as you stroll the streets you can enjoy the historic buildings, shady covered sidewalks, beautiful plantings of “Let’s Grow Hilo!,” and the fairly large number of trees among other aesthetic benefits of the area.

We’re suggesting that it’s important that you go to ourdowntownhilo.com and offer your comments on the parking proposals.  We’re also suggesting that if you want to get directly involved, contact planning department’s Susan Gagorik at 961-8133 to join the parking solutions group. Their next meeting is on Tuesday February 14 at9:30at the planning department conference room.

Around Downtown is written by Alice Moon, executive director of the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association. Call Moon at 935-8850 or e-mail askalice@downtownhilo.com to share news about issues, events and activities.

Click on logo to be connected to thier website.

InHilothe most recent festival tradition started back up ten years ago with the Hilo Chinese New Year Festival after decades of no large free community events to honor the rites and rituals of this auspicious time.  Welcoming the Year of the Dragon the festival takes place on Saturday, February 11 from10 a.m.until3 p.m.in Downtown Hilo’sKalakauaParkand the public is invited to participate.  “We follow the traditions of otherChinatownareas in expanding the celebrations beyond the traditional 15 day period,” said event producer Alice Moon.

Leading up to the festival, from January 23 – February 6, event sponsor Panda Express Hilo helps raise funds for the festival with their flier program.  Twenty percent of sales generated by everyone who presents the official fundraising flier between those dates will be donated to the presenting organization, Hilo Downtown Improvement Association for the event.  Another 20 percent of sales generated on the day of the festival will also be donated. “We are truly blessed to have the support of Panda Express Hilo.  We invite fans and friends of Hilo Chinese New Year Festival to try out some of their delicious food, but first visit our website at www.downtownhilo.com and download the flier to become one of our ‘Grassroots Sponsors’,” Moon encouraged.

On the day of the event, Big Island Shaolin Arts Lion Dancers jump, roll and dance among the roaring firecrackers and weave around the park blessing those offering up a monetary donation, usually enclosed in a small red packet called Lai See or Hung Bao. Throughout the day there will be demonstrations by the Mo Min Kuen Monkey Kung Fu and Peter Tam Hoy’s Tai Chi students, and free keiki activities provided by the Hilo High School Leos Club.  A Keiki Chinese Fashion Show at12:30 p.m.promises all entries will receive a special Chinese New Year award for participation – sign up is at the Information Booth in the park from10 a.m.until12 noon.  The popular food sampling at12 noonfeatures students and faculty of the Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts Program under the direction of Chef Allan Okuda serving up free tastes to hungry crowds (and lions!).

WithHilolacking the real thing,KalakauaParkbecomes a miniChinatownpacked with Asian, Hawaiian and multi-cultural arts, crafts and product vendors. For those looking for more than a taste, an international food court gives people a chance to eat their favorite festival foods including Panda Express Hilo’s popular bowls, Crivello’s Place malasadas and shave ice, Akmal’s Indian and Pakistani cuisine, and more.  “There are a good group of artists, crafters, Chinese and Asian product vendors with plenty of Lunar New Year items, toys, jewelry, hand sewn clothing and tablecloths, fine art, and of course the Year of the Dragon tee shirt designed by Na Makua Original Hawaiian Designs,” said Moon.

The Year of the Dragon is associated with new beginnings and good fortune.  Those with entrepreneurial spirit are particularly favored to see much success in the coming year. Generally, it’s predicted that any new venture may benefit from the outstanding luck often associated with the dragon. Therefore, it will be a very good year to get married, have children, or start a new business.  As the world suffers through one of the worst economic calamities in recent memory, bold new leadership will help ease the circumstances of those suffering most from recent financial setbacks.  Since this is the year of the Water Dragon, the liquid element is predicted to calm the dragon’s usually tempestuous nature, and will give a thoughtful perspective to the plight of the less fortunate.

The festival is presented by the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association and executive director Alice Moon is the original producer of the festival which involves many sponsors, community organizations and individuals in the planning and presenting processes. For more information call 935-8850, email askalice@downtownhilo.com or visit www.downtownhilo.com “Please join us as family and you too can be a part of this important annual celebration,” Moon said.

http://ourdowntownhilo.com/

Learn more about EDH 2025 & the VisionKeepers: (click the link below)

http://hawaiicounty.gov/planning/pl-edh2025

Phone: (808)961-8133 or email: edh20205@gmail.com

HILO, Hawaii—Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi will read a proclamation on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 10:30 am at the Mo’oheau Bandstand in Hilo declaring December as Think Local, Buy Local month. The mayor will be joined by Randy Kurohara, director of the Department of Research and Development, Hilo Downtown Improvement Association, Hawai‘i Alliance for a Local Economy and local business owners. The event is free and open to the public—light refreshments and entertainment to follow the reading of the declaration.

The Hawai‘i Alliance for a Local Economy (HALE) under the auspices of Sustain Hawai‘i is working under contract with the county Department of Research and Development to develop and launch a pilot public education initiative which highlights how purchasing locally made and grown products and shopping at locally owned businesses can benefit the community, environment and economy of Hawai‘i Island.

The Think Local, Buy Local initiative is being launched in downtown Hilo in partnership with the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association and 40 locally owned businesses. Participating Hilo businesses are displaying Think Local, Buy Local window signs and highlighting Made on Hawai‘i Island products. A cornerstone of the initiative is the Black and White Night/Think Local, Buy Local button which offers Hawai‘i Island residents discounts at participating locally owned businesses throughout the holiday season. Buttons are $5 and are available at the Hilo Information Center at the Mo’oheau Bus Station, Palace Theatre, Diabolik Surf and Glass and Basically Books.

Think Local, Buy Local is launching in downtown Hilo and expanding island-wide. Instead of a discount button, businesses outside of the downtown Hilo area will be offering coupons online at www.ThinkLocalBuyLocal.org to incentivize residents to think and buy local this holiday season.

A 2010 national report on “buy local” campaigns found that communities with an active “buy local” campaign experienced markedly stronger revenue growth compared to communities without such a campaign and independent retailers in “buy local” communities saw a 5.2 percent increase in holiday sales, while those elsewhere reported an average gain of less than 1 percent. During the holiday season, the Think Local, Buy Local campaign will be focusing attention on Hawai‘i Island grown and made products and locally owned businesses.

“Local businesses have always been the backbone of our economy,” said Mayor Kenoi. “During these challenging economic times, a renewed focus on products and food produced on Hawai‘i Island and on island-owned businesses is good for our economy and our community.”

To learn more and participate in Think Local, Buy Local visit www.ThinkLocalBuyLocal.org or call Andrea Dean at 960-3727.

We encourage our visitors to buy local products, in an effort to get a full Hilo experience we invite malahini (travelers) to shop around downtown instead of big box stores such as wal-mart and target. Click here to get more information about our cruise ship information.

Hilo, HI 96720.

(866)961-8664 – Office

(808)933-2664 – Student Services

http://www.connectionscharterschool.org