{"id":205680,"date":"2026-04-22T03:23:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205680\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:23:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:23:40","slug":"east-maui-taro-festival-crowns-winners-of-16th-queens-challenge-maui-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205680\/","title":{"rendered":"East Maui Taro Festival crowns winners of 16th Queen\u2019s Challenge : Maui Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 21, 2026, 5:00 PM HST <\/p>\n

\n\"\"Penny Levin of E k\u016bpaku ka \u2018\u0101ina, host of the Queen\u2019s Challenge, with Kulia Lind and his father, Pekelo Lind. PC: East Maui Taro Festival \u2013 Queen\u2019s Challenge<\/p>\n

Organizers of the 16th annual Queen\u2019s Challenge awarded top honors to Jake Sipes of Ha\u02bbik\u016b and K\u016blia Lind of K\u012bpahulu for their traditional Hawaiian kalo varieties during the East Maui Taro Festival on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The competition honors Queen Emma Kalanikaumakaamano Kaleleon\u0101lani Na\u2018ea Rooke for her historical expertise in taro cultivation and focuses on preserving the nearly 60 remaining traditional varieties of Hawaiian kalo.<\/p>\n

Judges evaluated each plant based on overall health, corm weight and starchiness. Organic growing methods, used historically by Queen Emma, earned entrants extra points in the scoring process.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

Sipes took first place in the dryland category with a Mana \u02bbulu variety.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jake Sipes, winner in the dryland category. PC: East Maui Taro Festival \u2013 Queen\u2019s Challenge<\/p>\n

In the wetland category, Lind secured the top prize with Lehua palai\u02bbi. Lind, who placed second in the 2025 contest, continues a family farming legacy established by his grandparents, John and Tweetie Lind.<\/p>\n

The quality of the corm is often determined by a float test. If a kalo floats, the starch has turned to sugar, a condition known as loli.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

The Queen\u2019s Challenge remains a centerpiece of the festival, highlighting the connection between careful cultivation and the quality of the harvest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 21, 2026, 5:00 PM HST Penny Levin of E k\u016bpaku ka \u2018\u0101ina, host of the Queen\u2019s Challenge,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[75308,81535,81536,81537,81538,9,24,63,666,81539,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-205680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-east-maui-taro-festival","9":"tag-hawaiian-kalo","10":"tag-jake-snipes","11":"tag-john-lind","12":"tag-kulia-lind","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-queen","17":"tag-queen-emma-kalanikaumakaamano-kaleleonalani-naea-rooke","18":"tag-queens","19":"tag-queens-headlines","20":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}