scrip

The term "scrip" is universally used across Hawaii by locals of all ages to describe the paper tickets or vouchers required to purchase food, games, and rides at community events. Its origins trace back to the plantation era, when sugar and pineapple companies paid workers in company scrip rather than US dollars, forcing them to shop at the plantation store. Today, the word has shed its exploitative history and is strictly associated with school fun fairs, church bazaars, and the annual county fairs. It is completely appropriate in these festive contexts, though visitors are often confused when told their cash is no good at the flying saucer booth until they go stand in the scrip line.

Cousin Keoni was leaning against the kitchen counter in his Makawao family home, trying way too hard to impress his new mainland girlfriend, Ashley. He whipped out a thick stack of twenty-dollar bills, loudly declaring that he was going to treat her like absolute royalty at the Maui County Fair tonight. "Babe, we going ride the Zipper ten times, eat all the flying saucers, and I going win you that giant stuffed bear," he bragged, slapping the cash against his palm.

His strict Japanese bachan, who was quietly folding laundry at the dining table, didn't even look up. "You lolo," she muttered, her voice cutting through his grandstanding. "You cannot use cash for the rides or the food. You gotta buy scrip. And the presale at Minit Stop ended yesterday."

The color drained from Keoni's face as Ashley looked at him, confused. He suddenly remembered the agonizing, two-hour line for scrip at the fairgrounds entrance. His big-shot moment instantly evaporated, replaced by the humiliating realization that his "royal treatment" was going to start with them standing in the dirt near the War Memorial stadium, sweating in the humidity while everyone else was already eating chow fun.