26-04-2025
Merrie Monarch boost Hilo businesses like Ola Brew
HONOLULU (KHON2) – It is Merrie Monarch, and to top it all off, Aloha Friday. The celebration brings community members together from all parts of the world to enjoy and participate in hula, while also supporting local vendors.
Small businesses such as Big Island-based brewing company Ola Brewing saw a nice boost in support as a result of the Merrie Monarch festivities.
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'For us, it's really, really special because I think it's bringing people together. It's bringing all these different islands that are coming over here to experience Merrie Monarch and the incredible cultural festival that we have here,' said Ola Brewing President and Co-Founder Naehalani Breeland.
For Breeland, the festivities serve as an opportunity for her to provide product to people on other islands who usually don't get to try her drinks and connect with other local organizations.
'People on other islands, they can't get everything that we have in the taproom, so to be able to share that with everybody is amazing. And then, in that collaborative spirit, being able to have pop-ups of a lot of these different artists and this whole mākeke in the back with Hulalei Designs, with Aunty Puamana Crabbe, with one of our local non-profits here, ʻĀina University, that works with keiki to get them grounded and rooted in ʻāina,' Breeland the increase in visitors, Ola Brewing is also able to promote a new drink they launched.
'Last night, we launched a beer, the Lehulehu lager, with Sig Zane for their 40th anniversary,' Breeland said. 'That was really incredible and hopefully we'll see more of those collaborations in the future, but it is really, really cool just to see the community come together.'
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Ola Brewing sees about two times more sales during the week of Merrie Monarch than usual, Breeland said. The extra profit benefits the business, as it is community funded and employee owned.
'So, we have over 42,000 shareholders that have invested into our business and what that means for us is a more circulated economy. What also circulates our economy here and what we are a part of is increasing the ag economy here,' Breeland said. 'So, sourcing as many local ingredients as we possibly can to add to our beverages, all the fruits that you see in our hard juices, all the fruits and botanicals that you see in our hard seltzers, those are all from here that we are really proud to share with our farmers. Since we opened, we have sourced over $4,000,000 from local farmers here, probably about 120 farmers so we are really proud of that, and we want to do more of that.'
Click here for more information on Ola Brew.
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