Waimea, Hawaii County, Hawaii

Waimea, Hawaii
Census-designated place
Cattle pastures just outside Waimea
Location in Hawaii County and the state of Hawaii
Coordinates: 20°1′13″N 155°40′4″W / 20.02028°N 155.66778°W / 20.02028; -155.66778Coordinates: 20°1′13″N 155°40′4″W / 20.02028°N 155.66778°W / 20.02028; -155.66778
Country	United States
State	Hawaii
County	Hawaii
Area
• Total	38.9 sq mi (101 km2)
• Land	38.8 sq mi (100 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.3 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	9,212
• Density	237.4/sq mi (91.7/km2)
Time zone	Hawaii-Aleutian (UTC-10)
ZIP code	96743
Area code(s)	808
GNIS feature ID	2414164

Waimea is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi, United States. The population was 7,028 at the 2000 census and 9,212 at the 2010 census. Since each U.S. state cannot have more than one post office of the same name, and there is a post office in Kauai county on Hawaii, the official US Post Office name for Waimea is Kamuela.

Waimea is the largest town in the interior of the Big Island, and is the center for ranching activities and paniolo culture. The Parker Ranch in and around Waimea is the largest privately owned cattle ranch in the US, and the annual Fourth of July rodeo is a major event. The Waimea Cherry Blossom Heritage Festival, held annually in the first week of February, has recently become another major event of the town. In the center of town you can find Hawaiian art at the Isaacs Art Center, the Wishard Gallery, and the Gallery of Great Things.

Waimea is also home to the headquarters of two astronomical observatories located on Mauna Kea, the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. It is also headquarters of the International Lunar Observatory Association.

It is believed that the watershed area of the Kohala mountains once supported several thousand native Hawaiians, who practiced subsistence agriculture, made kapa, and thatched living structures. As the Europeans arrived in the area, most of the sandalwood (Santalum ellipticum) forests were harvested and the land became ideal for grazing animals. California longhorn cattle were given as a gift to Hawaiian King Kamehameha I by British Captain George Vancouver in 1793. In 1809, John Palmer Parker arrived to the area after jumping ship and over time became employed by the king to tame the population of cattle, which at this point had grown out of control. In 1815 Parker married Kipikane, the daughter of a high-ranking chief, and as a family developed what is now Parker Ranch, the largest ranch in the area. Waimea's post office name Kamuela is the Hawaiian name for Samuel, named after Samuel Parker (1853–1920), the grandson of John Parker.