KUNIA — The wooden floor in the Kunia Gymnasium is scuffed and worn. The paint on the corrugated metal siding is chipped and faded. The dusty road to get there has bumps and holes.

But for the Kunia Orchid Society and other orchid enthusiasts, the rustic, old pineapple plantation building has not only been home, but a home they wish they didn't have to leave.

The Kunia Orchid Society's history is intertwined with that of the plantation. The society was born amid the pineapple fields and for 53 years has held its annual orchid show at the gym, drawing thousands of people.

But the time-honored tradition will end this weekend with the last orchid show at the gym starting today.

Del Monte Fresh Produce leases the land used for the pineapple plantation, including land under the homes and the gym.

And when the company in November announced its abrupt closure, it left the future of its Kunia gymnasium uncertain. While landowner James Campbell Co. says there are no current plans to demolish the gym, the society decided it couldn't take any chances.

But the show isn't ending. To ensure that the club's show has a home next year, organizers worked with Leilehua High School to move it there.

Still, leaving the gym is a sad, albeit inevitable, change for many of those who were setting up orchid displays in the gym yesterday. Many say they will miss the feeling of the old plantation lifestyle that has been fading in Hawai'i.

"It's kind of sad because this building is old and we've been here for so long and it just seems ... real country," said Kunia Orchid Society member Shirley Head. "I don't think you find it anymore. You're not going to find communities of this nature; everything is high-rise, subdivision."

'SOMETHING MAGICAL'

The Kunia gym is along an old bumpy road with a dirt parking lot, but the show still attracted thousands of people, said Callman Au, who chairs the Kunia Orchid Show with his wife, Frances. They expect about 6,000 to attend this weekend.

"There's something magical about it," Au said. "Maybe it's just that it's in an old building amongst the pineapples and the old village. ... Roosters (are) crowing. ... And people like that. They're in the country now.

"You just feel at home here. ... We'd love to stay here a long time more, but things change. And we're lucky we found another home. Just like a family moving out of their old home."

Au recalled birds flying in the gym before Del Monte officials repainted it and made other improvements about two years ago. The gym used to be a community center for young people who lived in the area, he said.

Hiroshi Kojima, an 86-year-old charter member of the Ewa Orchid Society, had played basketball as a teenager in the gym for a plantation league.

"We're going to miss this place," he said. "It's going to be very sad. ... We've been here many, many years now."

Sheryl Bubier, an Ewa Orchid Society member, said it's sad to see the plantation going out of business "because it was such a part of the life of the people.

"People have been coming here for 50 years," she said. "You don't get this atmosphere everywhere. ... It's just that old plantation lifestyle that you get here. You drive through the housing community to get here, it just brings you back to the roots of how the club started many years ago with the plantation people."

EXCLUSIVE CLUB

The Kunia Orchid Society was established in the early 1950s by California Packing Corp. workers who lived and worked in Kunia Village and Poamoho Camp, according to society press secretary Jenna Hollinger. The club has more than 100 members.

'Aiea resident Mercedes Maria Rabago, who has been a member of the Kunia Orchid Society for about 50 years, said she's sad that the show is moving from Kunia gym.

"I don't think it's going to be the same because the scenery and everything will be different," she said. "When you go to Kunia, the first thing you see is the mountains; it makes you feel so thrilled. Not too much buildings and things like that. Over there you see lots of scenery. Real country. Real nice."

Frances Au also felt a tug of nostalgia recently when she went there to help begin setting up.

"As we drove by, we said, 'Wow, there's no pineapples; nobody's around,' " she said. "It's kind of sad."

Other things she'll miss: "The dirt road, the speed bumps and the mud."

SWIFT CHANGE

Del Monte announced in November an immediate end to its operations, citing lower pineapple production and pineapple prices, and laid off 551 employees.

It's still unclear what will happen to the Kunia gym and plantation homes at Kunia Camp, where about 125 families live on land that Del Monte leased. James Campbell Co. has been working with ILWU Local 142, residents and government officials to come up with a solution, said Campbell spokeswoman Theresia McMurdo.

"There are no plans right now to demolish the gym and the homes because we are still working on a solution," she said.

Del Monte has possession of the gym and the homes, but cannot demolish the structures without approval from Campbell, McMurdo said.

But as the island's landscape continues to change, the Kunia Orchid Society will move on. Callman Au said "we are very enthusiastic, very lucky, very fortunate" to have found a new home at Leilehua High School, where he and Frances taught.

"It's the end of an era and beginning of a new one," he said.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.