The Made in Maui County Festival returns for its 13th edition on November 6 and 7, 2026, positioning itself as one of the Pacific's primary sourcing events for food, beverage, and specialty consumer goods buyers seeking Hawaii-origin products. Presented by the Maui Chamber of Commerce with Hawaiian Airlines as title sponsor, the two-day event at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center has generated more than 10,000 wholesale buyer and distributor connections for local businesses over its 12-year run.
The B2B Sourcing Angle
Friday, November 6 is structured exclusively for trade professionals. The Buyers Preview and Exclusive Shopping Day gives wholesale buyers, distributors, and qualified industry professionals direct vendor access for wholesale discussions, bypassing the broader consumer crowd. Admission is complimentary for registered buyers, who can sign up at madeinmauicountyfestival.com/wholesalebuyers. Buyers unable to attend in person may register for the festival's digital Buyers Guide to discover products and initiate supplier relationships remotely — a feature that broadens the event's reach well beyond Maui's geography.
Eligibility rules reinforce the sourcing integrity that drives retailer interest: all participating vendors must demonstrate that at least 51% of their materials or ingredients are locally sourced from Hawaii. For procurement teams seeking provenance-verified products — a growing requirement across specialty retail and foodservice channels — that threshold provides a meaningful baseline for due diligence.
What's on the Floor
Saturday, November 7 opens to the general public and layers consumer activation onto the wholesale infrastructure built the day before. The full festival floor spans food and beverages alongside art, fashion, beauty, jewelry, and handcrafted goods, reflecting the breadth of Maui County's maker economy. Food trucks and live entertainment round out the program.
For food and beverage operators specifically, the event offers a low-friction route to products that carry authentic Hawaii origin stories — an attribute that commands a premium on menus, in specialty retail sets, and in gift and travel-retail channels. Distributors working the Hawaii-to-mainland pipeline have historically used the festival to identify emerging brands before they achieve wider distribution.
"The Made In Maui County Festival is about creating opportunities for our local businesses to grow," said Pamela Tumpap, President of the Maui Chamber of Commerce. "It gives buyers a chance to discover products they may not find anywhere else, while giving Maui County businesses a platform to build relationships and expand their reach beyond the island."
The event is co-supported by the County of Maui and Office of Economic Development, underscoring its role as an economic development mechanism as much as a trade show. For context on how regional sourcing festivals are reshaping specialty food distribution, see F&B Industry News coverage of emerging supplier discovery trends and Hawaii's hospitality supply chain.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
