The hale at the “Festival Village” for the 13th annual FestPac hosted by Hawaii will be made mostly out of invasive trees recently blamed for power outages in East Honolulu, according to state officials.

State officials said more than 1,000 invasive trees — mostly albizias — have been felled to build 28 hale, or lightweight structures, for the Festival Village at the Hawai‘i Convention Center in Waikiki, which is where main events and exhibitions will take place.

The albizias, which were collected from “Nation of Hawaii” in Waimanalo, serve as ideal temporary structures within a short timeframe.

“These lightweight hale structures are specifically designed to be transported and erected quickly for the event,” said Joey Valenti, lead designer and architect, and founder of the Albizia Project. “Traditionally, you would use a much more selective species if you’re expecting a structure to last 30 years or so. In this case, they’re only going to be up for 10 days.”

Staff from DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife helped collect the logs and prep them, which organizers said was essential to getting the hale ready in time for assembly.

It’s a win-win situation, since the clearing of albizias from overgrown land in Waimanalo also allowed Nation of Hawaii to restore ancient footpaths and loi, or taro patches, that had been choked out by the invasive trees.

In Waikiki, meanwhile, the crew will have two days to assemble all 28 hale at Festival Village, which were designed by Architects Hawaii Limited to be assembled in under one hour apiece.

The 13th annual Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, or FestPac, takes place from June 6 to 16. A full schedule of panels, demonstrations and performances is available at festpachawaii.org/festival-schedule.