May 18th Maku’u Hala Festival
The May 18th Hala Festival located at the Maku’u market place in Puna was a most extraordinary celebration, bringing together Puna’s community pillars. 
The event was deeply exciting when it comes to inspiring people about native species, in this case, the cherished Hala (Pandanus tectorius), which has meaningful ecological and cultural importance to Hawaii’s people.
The event hosted numerous workshops, performances, and exhibitors, to help educate and inspire folks to protect hala and its rich traditional value.
HER tabled the event, recruiting 36 enthusiastic subscribers and volunteers, the highest number in HER outreach event history.
HER offered a discussion workshop on ways to incorporate the species in our yards and toward sustainable development. The self mulching leaves provide just that, a great source of mulch, particularly for banana crops, but can be turned into soil and help in other food growing ways.