Anaina Hou Community Park Founders

In 2004 Bill and Joan Porter purchased the 500-acre Wai Koa Plantation with a dream of creating opportunities for the community in agriculture, recreation, education, and also in the arts and entertainment. Bill and Joan discovered a hidden gem on their property in the Stone Dam and lovingly made it accessible to the public via a beautiful, easy, 5-mile walk through Cook Pines, gentle farmland, and one of the only mahogany forests in the nation, and which is now stewarded through the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.
Their dream eventually became a reality in Anaina Hou Community Park, a nonprofit, 501 (c) 3 campus that features an 18-hole botanical miniature golf course that navigates the history of the islands, the Porter Pavilion, a 4000 square foot venue suited to theater arts, concerts, weddings, and other celebrations, a robust farmers market, and the Anaina Hou Playground constructed from 707,544 plastic milk jugs. Anaina Hou Community Park became the quintessential “Gathering Place” on Kauai’s north shore.

In recent years the Porter legacy and mission has broadened to also include a focus on public health and safety and the environment. Anaina Hou Community Park became home to the Kauai North Shore Food Pantry, a partner of Kauai Red Cross, and other first responders and essential services in 2020. The Porter Pavilion hosts the annual Social Awareness Film Festival and is scheduled to launch The Haven @ Anaina Hou, an after school, creative electives & youth career program in January of 2021.

Bill Porter is no longer with us, but his wife Joan is an active member of the Anaina Hou Board of Directors.

If you would like to become involved with Anaina Hou Community Park as a volunteer, or if you would like to support one of its many programs, please Contact Ben Karon, CEO.