After Hawaii and Alaska, Utah has the highest percentage of Pacific Islanders in the nation. Nearly 60,000 residents of the Beehive state claim kinship with the islands of Micronesia extending from Hawaii to New Zealand including Tonga and Samoa. As they come, they bring a rich, family-oriented-culture that keeps traditions alive. Due to early missionary efforts of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Pacific Islander settlement of Iosepa west of Salt Lake City was settled in the late 1800. 

Rocky Hamilton, leader of a Tongan church group, raised his family in Bountiful and believes that his family has been grafted into the vineyard of his church in order to strengthen and help it flourish. “We only have three Tongan church groups in Davis County,” said Hamilton, “but it continues to grow so that most members do not have to travel more than 20 minutes.” 

Ninety-five percent of Tongans in Utah speak English now successfully bridging the language barrier. A tight-knit group, they often celebrate their heritage by getting together to eat, make music, and dance. Another Bountiful resident, Sandy Een, a Japanese woman who lived in Hawaii for years enrolled her children in dance traditions for the Islands: traditional female dances like hula and poi ball, as well as fire-knife for males. Language classes to maintain the native island tongues are available. Samoan, for example, is taught at the University of Utah.

The bulk of Pacific Islanders live in Salt Lake and Utah Counties and large festivals are held yearly at Thanksgiving Point to celebrate the traditional music, host volleyball tournaments, and highlight cultural demonstrations. Vendors sell Islander food that can be difficult to obtain so far from the tropical islands. Davis County’s first Polynesian market has been open for nearly two years now located at 1868 N. 1200 West, Suite C, Layton. Owned by Kisione Faenmani, Ola’s Polynesian Market has bags of fresh taro, frozen tropical delicacies like octopus, as well as a variety of packages and canned goods. Traditional clothes sold at the store includes island hats, sports tees and traditional lava-lava, sarongs. Traditional cloth sells for $5 a yard and can be purchased in the shop or ordered from samples. Kisione’s son Elijah Faenmani said that the parties of his community are epic with lots of food including pig, horse and lamb. He also enjoys doing the Haka with other men and watching the women perform the Taolunga dance. Stopping by to purchase canned coconut cream taro and meat for dinner, Sean Vuiyasawa, said that the shop is very convenient for those in Davis County that don’t want to go to Salt Lake to shop. He has an aunt that travels from the Idaho border to shop at Ola’s.