Every spring, orchid lovers (and those who hope to learn more about orchids) across the Big Island eagerly anticipate one of the most vibrant horticultural events of the year: the Kona Orchid Society’s bi-annual Show and Sale. Held at the Old Airport Pavilion, this event brings together passionate growers, skilled vendors, curious newcomers, and community members who just want to admire some truly spectacular flowers.
As a member (and now a board member) of the Kona Orchid Society, I absolutely love this show and look forward to it for months! It’s not just a chance to display orchids and give a talk—it’s a joyful celebration of color, scent, conversation, and community.
Setting up the Show: Behind the Scene
Preparation for the show begins months in advance- inviting growers and crafters, buying plants to sell, finding exhibitors to present, etc.
But the week before the show is when things really get exciting. Members choose which plants they’ll bring for the big club display, and vendors start getting plants to Kona. Friday is set-up day at the pavilion, members, volunteers, and vendors all roll up their sleeves to get everything set up in just one afternoon! This show couldn’t have happened without all of our amazing members volunteering to help out and make everything look great!
Club members set up the display tables, install backdrop panels, and write name tags for every plant in the display (tag writing was one of my jobs this year). Then we arrange the orchids by color for visual impact. The club display area is always a highlight—designed to showcase the diversity and beauty of members’ collections. This year we had 91 orchids in the club display!!
Tip: If you’re planning to participate next year, get involved with setup. It’s one of the best ways to learn and connect with other members, and growers, and to get the very best deals on plants.
Vendor Highlights
Each year, a variety of vendors—orchid growers, crafters, and educators—bring an incredible range of orchids and orchid-related items. A couple of my favorites this year were:
Island Sun Orchids: Known for her colorful Cattleya hybrids and fragrant Dendrobiums, she is always very popular- this time, Karen sold out completely before 11am!
Pele’s Island Plants: Phoenicia has gorgeous orchids! She is known for her beautiful Cattleya’s, while her husband Bob grows rare and amazing succulents.
Blue Cinder Studio: Shelby makes really unique clay pots that happen to be mostly in my favorite colors! He also loves orchids and makes some of his larger pieces specifically to show off orchids well.
Orchid People: Jennifer and Bob specialize in Cymbidium orchids, which are often big specimen plants with lots of flowers- super fun to see and grow!
There were so many other awesome growers and vendors! It was fun to just walk around and explore. There’s always something new to discover—in both orchids and crafts, there were even resin orchid earrings this year!
Ribbon-Winning Orchids
One of the most exciting parts of the show is judging. Ribbons are awarded for Best in Class, Best Species, and a range of other categories. The club display is judged by local orchid judges from the Daifukuji Orchid Club, and everyone waits to see who gets bragging rights.
This year a couple of the big winners were Stacy with her huge Dendrobium, with well over 100 flowers, winning the Show Champion award, Theresa with her very long spiked Brassidium Kenneth Bivin getting Reserve Champion, and Peter with gorgeous Dendrobium nestor, which smelled as good as it looked, winning Show Runner-up! And new this year the People’s Choice award! Unfortunately, all of the volunteers were too busy at the show to even begin counting the votes. So now that’s my job, I’m almost finished counting and I think I know who the winner will be. It will be announced at our general meeting on Friday. Check out the Kona Orchid Society website for details on the meeting- guests are always welcome!
I won 4 ribbons this show, a blue for my Miltoniopsis Pink Lemonade, with 7 flower spikes, a red for a cute unknown Miltoniposis, a red for my Phalaenopsis Eve, and a red for my Oncidium Heaven Scent. I was super stoked to get 4 ribbons when there were so many amazing orchids for the judges to choose from!
Check out the video to get the full visual effect of all those orchids in one small space! Too bad you can’t smell them too! I had many people stop and “just take a deep breath and smell all those amazing orchids”.
A Look at My Presentation
Each year, the show offers educational talks and demonstrations. This year, I gave a presentation called What Orchid is That? Learn to ID and Care for Your Orchids, Even Without Flowers. It was amazing to see a few friendly faces in the audience. I shared information about how orchids grow, different types of orchids, and the different care they need. I got to show off a few of my plants, and hopefully, I inspired a few folks to try orchid growing. If you missed my talk, or you were there and didn’t get the code to download the informational handout, you can get it here.
Final Thoughts
KOS has had other very successful shows, but this one had such a great energy and everyone I’ve talked with had a great time. I couldn’t believe how quickly some of the orchids sold out! You really have to get there early to get the best selection. I loved getting to do an educational talk, and it’s likely we’ll expand that portion of the show in the future.
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