Kula's Fall Runs on Its Farm Stands While the Lodge and the Hospital Rebuild

"We enjoy supporting the community with delicious dishes as we work on rebuilding." That line sits near the top of the Kula Lodge homepage, under a heading saying the food truck is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A few lines further down, the same page says the restaurant "is closed indefinitely due to the recent fire."

The Lodge isn't the only big Kula name running at partial capacity this October. Kula Hospital's clinic is seeing patients, but its Emergency Department has been closed since the March 2026 Kona Low storms. So for most of this fall, the parts of Kula with full published hours and fixed dates are the smaller ones: a pumpkin patch on Kula Highway, a Sunday music hour at the botanical garden, a school festival in November, and a handful of cafés and farms. Below is what's open, what isn't, and what's on the calendar.

What the Lodge Looks Like Right Now

The fire that gutted the Kula Lodge restaurant happened in August 2025. The Maui News reported that the family planned to rebuild at 15200 Haleakala Highway. Maui Now quoted the owner as hoping to save parts of the building, and noted that insurance coverage would affect how the rebuild goes. I haven't found a construction start date or reopening timeline in any local coverage since then.

The rest of the property kept going. Here's how it's set up this fall:

• Food truck: breakfast 7 to 11 a.m., lunch and dinner 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., coffee and dessert all day, every day
• Kula Marketplace: open daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for deli meals, drinks, groceries and local gifts
• The lodges: open and taking reservations

That's a 12-hour day of food and groceries from a place whose main dining room has been dark for more than a year. For a quick breakfast or a deli lunch, the Lodge still works. For a sit-down dinner with a view, it doesn't yet.

The Hospital Has a Budget but No Date

On September 22, 2026, the state, Maui Health and Kaiser Permanente announced that Kula Hospital will be restored and reopened. According to Maui Now, the total cost is preliminarily estimated at about $65 million, with $42 million from the state and $23 million from Kaiser Permanente. The project covers interior repairs and modernization, new building systems, and custom weather-protective windows and doors built to meet historic-preservation requirements.

Residents of Hale Makamae, the care facility on the hospital campus, were moved to Oʻahu after the storms. They're now back on Maui at an interim space on the Maui Memorial Medical Center campus.

Here's where things stand day to day, per Maui Health's own guidance:

Kula Clinic is open and continues to serve the Upcountry community. Kula Hospital's Emergency Department remains temporarily closed. Anyone experiencing a medical emergency should call 911 or go to the Maui Memorial Medical Center Emergency Department.

Maui Health says it will share a reopening timeline once one is confirmed, and it posts updates at mauihealth.org/community. Until then, this fall's errands and outings in Kula run through the smaller places below.

October Belongs to Kula Country Farms

The biggest seasonal event in Kula right now is the pumpkin patch at Kula Country Farms, 6240 Kula Highway. It's open every day from October 1 to 31, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gates close at 3:45 p.m. Entry is $5, and children 3 and under get in free. The farm says it grows more than 60 kinds of edible and decorative pumpkins and squash on the slopes of Haleakalā.

October also changes the farm's normal schedule. The farm stand usually runs Monday through Saturday and closes Sundays, but it opens daily this month. During the patch, the farm says:

• Drinks and snacks, including its Kula Strawberry Lemonade, are sold on weekdays
• Food is available on weekends
• The candy shop is open every day
• Maile Tea Company serves coffee, matcha, smoothies and tea every day
• Pop-up vendors come on weekends and during fall break

The farm also says it has only a limited number of tables, plus picnic areas. It points people to its Instagram for daily updates, which is the place to check before a weekend visit. One more note: the farm lists its 2026 strawberry U-pick as closed, so October's draw is pumpkins only.

Steady Hours for an Ordinary Week

The table below lists places that post fixed hours on their own sites. Opening days vary a lot, so a Monday plan and a Saturday plan look very different.

A few details in that table matter more than they look. Surfing Goat Dairy says you don't need a tour booking to stop in for a cheese tasting or to visit the shop. Ali'i Kula Lavender lists admission at $5 general and $2 for kamaʻāina, seniors and military. Its visit page was last updated in 2025, though, so check the hours before you go. Grandma's closes at 2 p.m. and the Ocean Organic café opens at 11:30 a.m., so the two cover a morning and an evening between them.

The botanical garden has the one standing weekly event on this list: Sunday Music on the Lawn, every Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. The music is free with garden admission, which is $10 for kamaʻāina and $15 for other adults. The garden doesn't post performer names or a fall lineup, so the music itself is the only thing you can plan around.

The Dates Worth Writing Down

In a fall when the biggest names in town have no dates to offer, these do. In calendar order:

1. Now through October: Shoulder work on Kula Highway (Route 37) at Ōmaʻopio Road. The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation lists a 24/7 northbound shoulder closure for intersection improvements that include a new traffic signal, lighting, guardrail upgrades, a left-turn storage lane and a retaining wall. The department's notice expects the work to last through October 2026. Its weekly bulletin for October 3 to 9 also lists a single-lane closure on Kekaulike Avenue near Wahelani Road.
2. Tuesday, October 13, 5 to 7 p.m.: The East Maui Water Authority's ʻAha Wai O Maui Hikina Board meets at Von Tempsky (Kula) Community Center. The rescheduled meeting includes a community conversation about Upcountry water history and historic maps.
3. October 23: Public comments are due on the draft environmental assessment for a proposed 262-acre Upcountry Maui Agricultural Park near Ōmaʻopio and Pūlehu roads. The plan includes 28 farm lots, non-potable irrigation, expanding a reservoir to 2.5 million gallons, and two new intersections on Pūlehu Road.
4. Saturday, November 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The Kula School Harvest Festival at 5000 Kula Highway. Admission is free, and the school lists live entertainment, craft vendors, a keiki fun zone, a petting farm, a restaurant row, a silent auction and a country store.

Two of those four involve Ōmaʻopio Road. The intersection work is happening right now, and the proposed ag park would sit nearby, so the same stretch of Upcountry is up for both a road change this month and a land-use decision with a comment deadline on October 23.

Once the pumpkin patch closes on October 31, the Harvest Festival on November 21 is the next big gathering on Kula's fall calendar. The Lodge restaurant and the hospital's Emergency Department will reopen on schedules that nobody has published yet.

If you own in Kula and you're following the hospital timeline, the ag park comments or the Lodge rebuild, I'm watching the same updates and I'm always happy to talk through what they mean for your corner of Upcountry. Reach out to Harry Devery and let's connect.