Press Release for the upcoming, 2011 Ipu Cultural Festival:

Aloha Hawaii Gourd Society ohana...

Our 5th Annual Ipu Cultural Festival
will be on August 26 & 27, 2011, at The Shops at Mauna Lani.
10 AM to 5 PM each day.

• The event is free to the public and free to ipu and other cultural vendors.
• Please email outtayourgourd@gmail.com or call Mary at 937-4308 for additional vendor information.
• Tables & covers are provided. You may join us for one or both days.
• Kindly wear Hawaiian dress or aloha wear if your plan to be a vendor.

We hope to see you there!

If you can provide assistance in placing posters, please let Mary know as soon as possible.

Mahalo,
Mary Amos
President, Hawaii Gourd Society

Ipu Lani, Inc. and Hawai'i Gourd Society present the fourth annual, 2010 Ipu Cultural Festival on January 22, 23, and 24 at the Hale Halewai Pavilion on Alii Drive in Kailua-Kona. The festival runs from 10 AM to 5 PM on both Friday and Saturday. The admission is free. There will be ipu artists and practitioners, lau hala and coconut weavers, fish net makers, and many other cultural practitioners demonstrating and selling their art.  "The Festival will celebrate the diverse culture surrounding the ipu, or gourd. Ipu art, basket weaving on ipu, cordage and olona demonstrations, guest Kumu demonstrations and workshops, music, food, ipu instrument classes (ipu heke, ipu ole', uli uli), Hawaiian arts and craft vendors, a silent auction, storytelling, and demonstrations will all be included," said organizers.

Ipu Lani , Inc. a registered 501 (c) 3 organization is the parent non-profit for the Hawai'i Gourd Society, which was established in 2006 to revitalize the Ipu culture in the State of Hawaii. The organizations educate the public through this festival and other learning opportunities by exploring the wide variety of uses, both functional as well as artistic from a modern and historical perspective. The groups also support propagation of the ipu in Hawai'i encouraging different farms to grow, cultivate and propagate the ipu. "We strive to bring back to life the joy of working with the ipu and the beauty of the final ipu art," said founding member Mary Amos. "We search for proper growing spots and make every effort to begin cultivation. By grants and donations we plan to farm ipu throughout the islands," she said.

The 2011 Ipu Cultural Festival is sponsored in part by a grant from the Hawaii Tourism Authority through the County of Hawaii CPEP, The Shops at Mauna Lani, Ipu Lani, Inc. and CNHA.

Visit www.hawaiigourdsociety.com for class details and schedule of events
or email outtayourgourd@gmail.com for more information

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