Kula's Holiday Season Follows the Farms, From the Last Pumpkin to the First Christmas Tree

In Kula, the holiday season starts when the pumpkin patch closes, and it moves forward each time another crop comes out of the ground. Across November and December, every Upcountry gathering worth putting on the fridge falls in the space between one harvest finishing and the next one starting. The dates are set, the addresses are a short drive apart, and the order of the season makes sense once you line the events up next to the harvests.

This weekend is the last one for pumpkins

Kula Country Farms says its 2026 Fall Pumpkin Patch runs through the month of October. Maui Family Magazine's fall calendar lists the patch as open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 6240 Kula Highway, across from Rice Park. If you read this on Thursday, you still have Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31, to go.

After that the farm goes quiet for a while. Kula Country Farms says its 2026 strawberry U-pick is closed, and it expects the next patch in February 2027. So November opens with no pick-your-own anything on the best-known farm stop along the highway. The rest of the season fills that stretch of empty weeks.

November 21 fills the gap at 5000 Kula Highway

The first big date is the Kula School Harvest Festival on Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. The festival is held on the Kula Elementary campus at 5000 Kula Highway. The school's flyer lists live entertainment, craft vendors, a Keiki Fun Zone, a petting farm, Restaurant Row, a silent auction, a Country Store and community partners.

The festival has been running a long time. Maui Now called the 2013 festival the 26th annual. The festival's own website says proceeds go to Kula students' academic and enrichment programs.

The site's attractions page explains two names you'll see on the flyer:

• Restaurant Row is the local food trucks.
• Market Street is the local businesses and artisans.

That second one matters more than it sounds. With the pumpkin patch closed and strawberries months away, Market Street is the first big Upcountry shopping day of the holiday season. If you buy handmade gifts, the Saturday before Thanksgiving is the earliest good chance to start.

Persimmons run out just as the trees come in

While the festival is going on, the other Kula harvest is at its peak. Hashimoto Kula Persimmons & Cherimoya lists persimmon season as October through early December. The fruit depends on the year's crop, so check the farm's Instagram, @hashimoto_kulapersimmons, before you drive up.

There's a practical catch for holiday gifts. Hashimoto ships persimmons and cherimoya anywhere in Hawaiʻi by USPS, but the farm says USDA regulations don't allow it to ship the fresh fruit outside Hawaiʻi. A box for an auntie in Hilo works. A box for a cousin in Sacramento doesn't. Kula persimmons are a gift for people already on the islands, or for whoever is visiting you over the holidays.

"Early December" is when this season hands off to the next one. Persimmons fade around the same time the trees come off the mountain, and cherimoya picks up from December through March. On the farm calendar, December brings no break at all. One fruit replaces another.

December 4 to 6 is tree weekend at 638 Kekaulike

Kula Botanical Garden holds its Maui-grown Christmas tree sale Friday through Sunday, December 4, 5 and 6, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The garden describes it in its own words:

"Grown on the slopes of Haleakala, come and get your Maui Christmas Tree for your hale this year."

The garden says its Christmas tree crew will help you choose, and the sale will also carry wreaths, candle centerpieces and ornaments. The address is 638 Kekaulike. This is the moment the season turns, and the farm calendar explains why. The trees are the slope's last crop of the year, sold over the same weeks the persimmon trees are giving their last fruit.

Saturday, December 5 is the busiest day of the season

That Saturday holds two events within a short drive of each other. Along with day two of the tree sale, Haleakalā Waldorf School's Holiday Faire runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 4160 Lower Kula Road, with vendors, holiday crafts, food, children's games and entertainment. The school's 2026–27 calendar also lists the Faire on December 5.

The Faire closes an hour before the tree sale does, which suggests an order for the day:

1. Start at the Holiday Faire on Lower Kula Road when it opens at 9 a.m., while the craft tables are fully stocked.
2. Have lunch from the Faire's food vendors.
3. Drive up to 638 Kekaulike in the afternoon for a tree and wreath, before the sale closes at 4 p.m.
4. If you'd rather tie the tree down without the Saturday crowd, the same sale runs Friday and Sunday on the same hours.

Leave some extra time on the highway too. The state Department of Transportation's Maui roadwork page listed a 24/7 shoulder closure at Kula Highway and ʻŌmaʻopio Road "until further notice" for intersection improvements. Check the current week's schedule before a busy Saturday.

The season closes at the ranch on December 13

Eight days later, the last big Upcountry event is at the far end of Kula Highway. Ulupalakua Ranch holds its annual Christmas in the Country on Sunday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Maui Family Magazine's winter calendar lists the address as 14779 Piʻilani Highway, Kula. It describes local vendors, food, keiki activities, live music, photos with Santa, hayrides, a petting zoo and sheep-herding demonstrations by paniolo, with admission at $5 per person and free for kids under 12.

The ranch says its event supports local nonprofits every year. It says past events have collected multiple full containers of food donations for families in need, and last year's event raised more than $7,500 in charitable contributions. The ranch's events page also says its 2026 community event information is "coming soon," so watch the page and the ranch store's Instagram for details closer to the day.

Christmas in the Country is the right place to end the season. The Harvest Festival raises money for the school down the road, and the ranch event raises money for nonprofits across Maui. Both turn a Saturday or Sunday out into something that gives back.

The fixed point between the big dates

The weekends between these events aren't empty. Kula Botanical Garden holds Sunday Music on the Lawn every Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. The concert is free with garden admission, which is $15 for adults and $10 for kamaʻāina, and the garden adds that tips for the band are always appreciated. It's a steady option for the Sundays of November 22 and November 29. On December 6 it falls on the last day of the tree sale, so you can pick up a tree and stay for the music.

Here's the whole season, with what's growing alongside each date:

Our family has spent a lot of holiday Saturdays on this same stretch of Kula Highway. If your own Upcountry plans this season include finding a property manager for the Kula house while you're off-island, or wondering what your place up the mountain is worth, Emerald Club Realty is a call away. Work with our Maui Ohana, and we'll see you at the tree sale.