The “Christmas In October Island Crafts & Boutique Show,” kicked off this past weekend with crafts and showcases provided by the Gardena Christian Community Church, Daliano Design, Quilt Styles, and many others. The entire event itself was sponsored by the Kama’aina Club Of Orange County Glee Club and was held at 8530 Stanton Ave. in Buena Park, California.
The overall purpose of the event was to raise money for various charities by featuring the products of Holiday Boutique Vendors, and Island Crafters.
The “Christmas In October Island Crafts & Boutique Show,” kicked off this past weekend with crafts and showcases provided by the Gardena Christian Community Church, Daliano Design, Quilt Styles, and many others. The entire event itself was sponsored by the Kama’aina Club Of Orange County Glee Club and was held at 8530 Stanton Ave. in Buena Park, California.
The overall purpose of the event was to raise money for various charities by featuring the products of Holiday Boutique Vendors, and Island Crafters.
“We got the idea for this event from our Aloha Festival that we used to host,” said Donald P. Sato Jr., who is the executive vice president of the Kama’aina Club. “We held the original event for 20 years in Santa Fe Springs. We don’t hold the event anymore, but we moved down here to Buena Park to host this similar event. We have now been here for two years, and we are loving it.”
Fifteen to 20 thousand people used to show up to the original show in Santa Fe Springs, and a lot of the old customers and venders followed the Kama’aina Club to Buena Park. “Our main objective is to raise money for our American War Veterans, and for sick children,” explains Sato. “We are a non-profit organization that solely focuses on community service projects that help to better the local neighborhoods and cities around us.”
The Kama’aina Club often recruits and brings performers all the way from Hawaii and other islands along the Pacific Rim to perform in their shows. They also take much pride in bringing over venders who sell authentic Hawaiian goods and Pacific Islander arts and crafts.
“These crafters are independent and aren’t from a big corporation. This is also something that we take pride in,” says Sato. At today’s particular Christmas event, The Aloha Senior’s Group from Huntington Beach was on hand to provide the live entertainment with their hula dancing, and other native island traditional dances.
“The Aloha Senior’s Group,’ was originally an exercise group with only 20 members, but now it expanded greatly. They then turned it into dance crew,” states Sato. “The Quilt Style Of Hawaii,” booth is one of Sato’s personal favorites, and is one of the most popular showcases at the event. “People really enjoy this particular booth because they provide authentic goods that are of traditional Hawaiian style and heritage,” explains Sato. “They offer cherishable heirlooms that are meant to be passed down from generation to generation.”
Fred Coyner was also on hand to represent for “Leho Ukulele,” and was present to sell genuine Hawaiian Ukulele’s to the SoCal crowd. “Leho Ukulele,” is an organization that was created by his wife Tatiana Coyner who is of Tahitian decent.
“We provide the best house brand Ukulele’s in North America and French Polynesia, and we are the largest distributor in the world,” says Fred. “We actually design the instruments, and provide them to other companies like Yamaha. We ship over 20,000 units a month.” Fred and Tatiana Coyner first found out about the “Christmas In October Island Crafts & Boutique Show,” in Buena Park while at the Tiki Festival in Long Beach.
“A promoter named Elaine walked up to our booth, and invited us to come down. We were very interested, and we decided to make our first appearance in Buena Park,” states Fred. “We are enjoying the nice people and are here to make memories.” Tatiana Coyner is a traditional Tahitian singer and musician, and first created the “Leho Ukulele,” business after a group of close friends inspired here to step out and give the dream a shot.
Now, “Leho Ukulele,” is the number one distributor of the Ukulele to the American mainland. Another rather awesome and innovative booth that was distributing tropical goods was the “Thru The Garden Window,” showcase.
Owner John L. Derrick is the mastermind behind “The Fragrance and Beauty from Nature,” line of all natural wreaths and garlands. “We are all originally out of Dallas, Texas,” says Kristen Allison, who is Derrick’s business partner. “We are a family business that started over 25 years ago. Derrick recently moved out to Las Vegas and is now expanding his business out to the Arizona and California markets. This is our first time out here in Buena Park, and we are really excited to be here.”
The holiday wreaths and garlands that the“Thru The Garden Window,” organization provides are created out of real life hand sliced fruits, berries, and vegetables, and are dried, preserved, and nutritious. The apples and oranges that are used in the creation of these artistic pieces let off a brilliant aroma that simply captivates the customer with the spirit of the island tropics.
“Our products last for years,” explains Allison. “We also have ‘Refresher Oils,’ that will help to maintain the all-natural scent of the wreaths and garlands.” Derrick first started his business after his retirement as a hobby so he could travel all around the country and meet new people.
“Thru The Garden Window,” is a grassroots movement that is always trying to reach out to bring American communities together with their art. “Whenever you go to arts and craft shows, you have always got to go out and look for that gem, that diamond in the rough. It’s small grassroots shows like this that really make the biggest difference in people’s lives,” states Allison.
The “Thru The Garden Window,” organization can be reached at (www.info@thruthegardenwindow.com), while “Leho Ukulele,” could be contacted at (Lehoukeusa@gmail.com). If you are interested in finding out more information pertaining to The“ChristmasIn October Island Crafts & Boutique Show,” they can be contacted at (www.christmasinoctoberoc.com), (kamaainagleeclub@yahoo.com), or (don@kamaainallc.com).
