Kauai’s only orchid show returns to Hanapepe for weekend sale

Hanapepe’s only known orchid show and sale filled the Hanapepe United Church of Christ social hall beside the Hanapepe Public Library parking lot, with doors open Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The timing put orchids in the middle of Hanapepe Art Night, giving the weekly crowd a reason to stop, browse and buy on a street already known for drawing residents and visitors into town.

Garden Island Orchid Society president Elizabeth Borchelt said members were being asked to bring their blooming plants so the display would be full of color and variety. “We encourage every GIOS member to bring all of their blooming orchids for display at the Spring Show,” Borchelt said. Orchid Alley’s Neill and Fely Sams were also there with orchid plants in bloom or in bud, while GIOS members supplied home-baked goods and hosted workshops and demonstrations on orchid care, including a Friday session at 2:30 p.m. before the doors opened.

The selling floor mattered as much as the display tables. A former gift phalaenopsis, or moth orchid, had been triggered into bloom by recent inclement weather, a reminder of how closely island gardening tracks changing conditions. Phalaenopsis plants were among the specimens on exhibit and for sale, and Neill Sams said in 2024, “I’ll be bringing a bunch of Lady’s Slipper varieties for judging.” Orchid Alley’s own listings show the niche the show serves, with hard-to-find species such as Bulbophyllum, Grammatophyllum and Paphiopedilum among the plants it sells.

For buyers, the pricing gives a clear picture of the market behind the tradition. Orchid Alley currently lists Bulbophyllum at $35, Cattleya at $45, Gift of Aloha Miniature Orchids at $59, and Vanda at $75, while a single orchid gift basket runs $89. Those numbers help explain why the show still draws collectors, home gardeners and gift buyers who want something harder to find than a grocery-store orchid.

The event’s staying power is tied to Hanapepe’s wider small-business economy. The Hanapepe Economic Alliance was formed in 1997 to support historic preservation and economic revitalization, and it established Friday Art Night the same year. That weekly market has endured ever since, giving the orchid show a built-in audience and reinforcing the church hall as a recurring home base for a volunteer society that belongs to the American Orchid Society. The spring show returned after a four-year hiatus in 2024, and GIOS followed with a fall show in August 2025 at the same site, signaling that the Hanapepe tradition is once again running on a full calendar.