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When the smoke cleared from the Aug. 8 wildfire in Lahaina, most of the seaside town’s famed Front Street was destroyed.

Gone were art galleries, boutique shops, Mick Fleetwood’s restaurant, an elementary school and the historic Pioneer Inn. Badly damaged were the marina, banyan tree and ferry terminal.

But at the northern end of Front Street, between the charred remains of entire neighborhoods, a few businesses survived. Among them is the Old Lahaina Luau, which has been part of countless people’s weddings, honeymoons, engagements and memorable Maui vacations since 1986.

It would be months before this quarter-mile stretch of businesses — which includes several shoreline restaurants and a dive shop — was accessible. Mini celebrations broke out when water and electric returned.

After a lot of work, this small slice of Front Street is coming back to life.

The Mala Ocean Tavern reopened on Feb. 1 to the delight of locals and tourists. On Saturday, the Old Lahaina Luau will host guests for the first time since the fire with a fundraiser for the 60th Anniversary of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. It’s scheduled to open to the public on March 12.

And soon the Aloha Mixed Plate, an affordable community favorite eatery, will be back, opening in the space that had been planned for an upscale restaurant.

“To reopen means everything to us,” said Robert Aguiar, one of four owners in the Hoaloha Na Eha partnership that founded the luau and also owns Aloha Mixed Plate and the Star Noodle. “This is a rejuvenation for us.”

It seemed to be the same for the approximately 200 employees of the company who attended a recent blessing at the oceanfront luau grounds with a gorgeous view of Lanai and Molokai. The gathering was more like a family reunion, with hugs, kisses, laughter and plenty of stories to share.

“Fifty percent of our employees lost their homes. My kids’ school burned down. It’s our whole community that is affected,” said emcee Paula Martinez, who has worked at the luau for 23 years, beginning as a dancer. “We’re really connected with the community and so it’s been hard. But the luau is a very special place for me. There is so much ohana that is here.”

She said she understands the timing of the reopening is not right for everybody, but “you can feel almost as if the life is returning.”

The timing of the luau reopening has not been an easy decision. A vocal group in West Maui still thinks it is too early to reopen businesses that cater to tourists, especially when many survivors still are traumatized and don’t have stable housing.

“In a way, excitement may not be the right word,” said Kawika Freitas, the luau’s director of public and cultural relations. “It might be sort of a subtle relief because we can finally get our employees who have been feeling like they need to come back to work, to come back to work.”

Tim Moore, another of the luau owners, said the timing coincided partly with fire disaster unemployment benefits running out on Feb. 10. He said the company already has put many of its pre-fire 380 employees back on the payroll.

Kim Ball, a member of Mayor Richard Bissen’s six-person Lahaina Advisory Committee, focuses on the economy. He said it has been a balance between respecting the trauma people still are going through, which he understands having lost all three of his family’s homes, and also helping businesses reopen and people get their jobs back.

Ball, who owns five surf shops on Maui, said the economy may be able to diversify over the years, but for now it is basically run by tourism, which means all of the island needs the number of visitors to return to a healthy level.

“You’ve got to pay the bills,” he said. “We all have to pay the bills. And I’m not just talking about individual businesses. I’m talking about our government. It needs the tourist revenue to provide the services to our county.”

Ball said he thinks there is a “big silent majority” that privately believes West Maui needs its businesses back and its people returning to work.

Pamela Tumpap, executive director of the Maui Chamber of Commerce, said she is thrilled to see the Old Lahaina Luau and Mala Ocean Tavern reopening.

“While both are businesses dependent on tourism, I think that the community will rally around them and support them,” she said.

On a recent weekday at 2:30 p.m., Mala Ocean Tavern had a waitlist. It included Utah residents Chris and Bev Goddard who own property in Lahaina and spend several weeks every year on Maui.

“We’ve been here many, many times before, so when we heard it was open we wanted to come support it,” Bev Goddard said. “We should have made a reservation.”

Not all businesses on this stretch are back. The restaurant next door still has a sign that says: “Due to the power outage, Honu Oceanside will be closed 8/8/23.”

An Aug. 31 report from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism listed 834 businesses in the Lahaina disaster area as being closed. Exact data is not available on how many have since reopened. But many have in the Lahaina Cannery Mall, which backs onto that small stretch of surviving Front Street, and other shopping centers in the area that escaped the fire.

At the southern end of Front Street, a second small stretch also survived, including the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort. But it will be a long time before it is able to reopen due to its location. The resort is right next to the Feast at Lele, the lesser-known luau also owned by the Hoaloha Na Eha partnership, that burned to the ground.

While the Old Lahaina Luau did not burn, the perfectly manicured property suffered extensive wind and smoke damage, and lost several trees. The roofs needed to be rethatched and extra landscapers were hired to bring back to life the tropical grounds that went without water for months.

Freitas said the luau would sponsor several community events and has added a new part of the program that honors Lahaina.

“We’re not going to just come in mindlessly to entertain tourists,” Martinez said. “At the end of the day, we’re here with kuleana (responsibility). We’re here with cultural practices. And, we’re going to do things tastefully.”

During the blessing, four trees were planted at each corner of the property, with everyone contributing dirt and water. At each tree, a pule (chant) was repeated four times that basically translated to: “I plant you, now grow.”

Tim Medeiros, an Old Lahaina Luau server for 18 years, said “when the fire happened, it felt like everything was lost. But this planting of new trees shows this place is going to go on. We’re going to go on. The town’s coming back.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.