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K\u016blia Lind (center) received first prize in the Queen\u2019s Challenge wetland taro competition at the 30th annual East Maui Taro Festival. To the right is Penny Levin of E k\u016bpaku ka \u2018\u0101ina, host of the Queen\u2019s Challenge, with K\u016blia Lind\u2019s father Pekelo. Photo courtesy E kupaku ka \u2018aina<\/p>\n
Jake Sipes of Haiku and K\u016blia Lind of Kipahulu received the top honors for dryland and wetland taro, respectively, at the 30th annual East Maui Taro Festival on Saturday.<\/p>\n
They were awarded $500 each as winners of the Queen\u2019s Challenge, which is named after Queen Emma, who was an expert in planting and growing taro. Taro is known as kalo, a staple of Hawaiian culture.<\/p>\n
In addition to honoring the farmers, the contest is meant to celebrate the wide diversity of taro that is still being grown today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest is not always the best,\u201d said event organizer Penny Levin of the group E k\u016bpaku ka \u2018\u0101ina. \u201cEach entry is judged on the health of the whole plant \u2014 the health, weight and quality of the corm, including its starchiness, which is determined by a float test.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levin said a taro that floats indicates the starch has turned to sugar.<\/p>\n
She said taro grown organically, as Queen Emma did, receives additional points.<\/p>\n
K\u016blia comes from a long line of taro farmers, including his grandfather and grandmother, Uncle John and Auntie Tweetie Lind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
K\u016blia Lind (center) received first prize in the Queen\u2019s Challenge wetland taro competition at the 30th annual East Maui Taro Festival. To the right is Penny Levin of E k\u016bpaku ka \u2018\u0101ina, host of the Queen\u2019s Challenge, with K\u016blia Lind\u2019s father Pekelo. Photo courtesy E kupaku ka \u2018aina<\/p>\n
Kulia Lind was the second place winner in 2025.<\/p>\n
Festival organizer Maria Aki Orr said the event has grown from having 500 to 1,000 in attendance its first year in 1993 to seeing thousands of attendees this year.<\/p>\n
She said the goal of the festival is to act as a bridge to connect people and promote and protect Hawaiian culture.<\/p>\n
Taro is mentioned significantly in the Kumulipo, the story of the Hawaiian genesis, as the eldest brother of the Hawaiian people, the first born child of Wakea, the sky father.<\/p>\n
The second child, Haloa, was the first human, according to the Kumulipo.<\/p>\n
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