Kona club to receive Orchid Isle Award

In 2014 Julie Goettsch, former president of the Hilo Orchid Society, initiated the Orchid Isle Project to encourage individuals, groups and businesses to place beautiful orchids in visible places around the island.

The society then created the Orchid Isle Award to honor organizations that took the project to heart the most during the year.

This year, the Orchid Isle Award will be presented to Kona Daifukuji Orchid Club and Buddha’s Cup Coffee Mill at noon Saturday during the Hilo Orchid Show and Sale taking place this weekend at Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-purpose Stadium.

Goettsch praised the Kona club for “truly helping to put orchids back on the Orchid Isle. And Daifukuji folks, this is the second year in a row you have received this honor. Congratulations!”

The Kona Daifukuji Orchid Club refreshed two outdoor gardens at Kona Community Hospital and placed orchids in the flower beds fronting the Aloha Theatre. They also placed orchids around the grounds of the Kona Coffee Living History Museum.

Buddha’s Cup Coffee Mill also is receiving this award for creating orchid viewing space throughout the grounds of its new visitor’s center.

About 200 orchids were placed in trees throughout the grounds. Buddha’s Cup has plans for placing more orchid plantings around the five coffee farms they own, where visitors on four-wheel tours of the farms can receive little “surprises” as they travel up and down rows of coffee trees.

“We want to give special recognition to Joyce Hancock of the KDOC and Sarah Fogelstrom of the Buddha’s Cup for their leadership in these projects and for being willing to get ‘down and dirty’ planting orchids,” Goettsch said.

The Hilo Orchid Show and Sale continues from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. today, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. For more information about the show, visit www.hiloorchidsociety.org.