08/25/2026
I told myself I was going to stay out of it, and while you might think, what does Maui Streatery getting passed a fake hundred dollar bill have to do with people hating on vendors at Made in Hawaii festival?
- To me as a micro small business owner: EVERYTHING. Because what these people do by stealing or putting us down is a gut punch to everything we stand and fight for every day. Against all odds, we run our small businesses day by day, having no choice, but to succeed at the end of the day because our lives and the lives of our employees, depend on it.
I find it sad to see all of these posts from people hating on the Made in Hawaii festival because in the end, they are putting down every maker that has shown up and has worked to exhaustion to make it there physically and with the years of preparation and hard work it took to have built a brand to be able to show up at a high profile event like that. It is not their fault that Made in Hawaii has set the parameters that have allowed them to showcase their work even if not every element of every item they have made comes from Hawaii. 
They have still created a small business with ideas, hard work, perseverance, and trust in a higher power that things will work out, even if sometimes they don’t feel like they will. Made in Hawaiii brings a huge boost into the local economy because these makers will then spend what they earned at other local businesses and will feed the mouths of their families and many others, keeping the money on Island, which is exactly what we want. To everyone who represented their work and ideas at the festival this weekend congratulations and hopefully you get your well-deserved rest because you friggin crushed it. Be so proud of yourselves because you have made it, and like June Osborne would say “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” ❤️🤗💫
To the person who passed this counterfeit hundo tonight at Big Red while we were slamming busy…you got away with one tonight! Keep continuing to steal from small local business here on island and I guarantee you’ll get what’s coming to you. Be careful other small businesses because they are out there in our community! Karmas a bitch!