Outrigger & OHANA Press Room

Get your buzz on at this year's Kona Coffee Festival

10.06.2009
Keauhou Beach Resort hosts a selection of java-filled activities and events

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii -- If you can't start your day without that daily cup of coffee, you'll be abuzz about the coffee-laced events being planned at Keauhou Beach Resort this November 11 and 12 as part of the 39th annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. Celebrating the Big Island's 181-year coffee tradition, this year's festival theme is "Kona Coffee - Aroma of Aloha."

A gala dining event, art competitions and exhibits are among the java-jolting fun into which travelers bound for Hawaii's Big Island can dunk themselves.

One of the highlights will be the Kona Coffee Council Dinner & Benefit Auction at the Keauhou Beach Resort on Thursday, November 12, at 6 pm. This social gathering is hosted by insiders of the Kona coffee industry and will include a buffet dinner, silent auction and live entertainment. Everyone is welcome. Tickets are $45 per person. For reservations or more information, call (808) 322-6575.

Daytime activities at the hotel will include the Gevalia Kona Cupping Competition at which the nation's top Kona Coffee farmers vie for the honor of having grown the finest of coffee beans. Entries, all of which must have been grown in the fertile Kona coffee belts, are judged by an international panel of experts. This free event is open to spectators, with the preliminary event on November 11 from 9 am to 2 pm and the finals from 9 am to 12 noon on November 12.

The hotel will also be the host site of several art exhibits, November 10-15. The romance of the Kona coffee lifestyle will be depicted in artwork during the Gevalia Kona Coffee Art Exhibit on November 11 and 12. The artwork will be offered for sale by local artists, and the public is invited to vote for their favorite piece as part of the People's Choice award.

Also on November 11 and 12 will be the Keauhou Resort Kona Coffee Label & Website Competition which awards unique, creative marketing that generates sales for Kona coffee farmers. Cash prizes and awards will be given in both categories.

Rounding out the art exhibits on November 11 and 12 will be the Kona Coffee Quilt Contest and Show, with entrants creatively interpreting Kona coffee through the art of quilt making.

The three art exhibits will be available for public viewing from 9 am to 2 pm on November 11 and 9 am to 12 noon on November 12.

The coffee-inspired activities taking place at Keauhou Beach Resort are part of the Big Island's award-winning Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, Hawaii's oldest and most successful food festival in Hawaii scheduled for November 6 to 15, 2009, at various Big Island venues. For more information about the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, contact (808) 326-7820 or visit www.konacoffeefest.com.

During the 2009 Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, Keauhou Beach Resort is offering an ocean view room, single/double occupancy, for just $119 per night, which includes complimentary self-service full breakfast buffet. For reservations, call toll free 877-532-8468, or direct at 808-324-2515, and ask for the "Kona Coffee Festival Rate."

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About Keauhou Beach Resort

The Keauhou Beach Resort sits along the Kona Coast of Hawaii's Big Island and enjoys a prime oceanfront setting with tide pools sheltering sea turtles and reef fish out front and Kahaluu Bay Beach Park, one of the best snorkeling beaches on the island, right next door. The hotel offers 310 recently refurbished guest rooms and suites, meeting facilities, restaurants, salon and spa services, tennis courts, pool, shopping, ancient historical sites and Hawaiian cultural programs for adults and children. For reservations or information, call toll free 1-866-326-6803 or the hotel direct at 1-808-324-2515, or visit www.keauhoubeachresort-hawaii.com.

About Outrigger Enterprises Group

Outrigger Enterprises Group is one of the largest and fastest-growing hospitality services companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Outrigger is a family-owned company with more than 60 years of hospitality experience and runs a highly-successful, multi-branded line of hotels, condominiums and vacation resort properties, including Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, OHANA Hotels & Resorts, Outrigger Condominium Collection, Embassy Suites®-Waikiki Beach Walk®, Courtyard® by Marriott and Best Western. Outrigger Enterprises Group also operates and develops hotel properties and hospitality-related retail and real estate opportunities for partners in Hawaii, the Pacific, the mainland USA and Asia. For on-line information, log on at www.outriggerenterprisesgroup.com or www.outrigger.com.

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