Hardly a day goes by without news of another big development, another housing tract or another major chain retailer setting up shop in the Islands.

This is all good, but sometimes it is refreshing to see signs that our communities are still capable of building, or rebuilding as the case may be, themselves from the ground up.

That's the point of a vigorous community effort to build a "festival market" on the site of the old Big Way supermarket in Waipahu.

Now, Waipahu is often bypassed by busy shoppers on their way to Waikele. And that's reasonable enough, as far as it goes.

But Waipahu, as anyone who has been there recently knows, has a down-home, leafy plantation-era atmosphere than cannot be easily replicated.

Now, the Waipahu Community Association is raising money to build a community market in the old Big Way site that will include local vendors, foods and crafts, and other attractions.

Importantly, the project also will include an "incubator" space for small businesses hoping to launch their own enterprises.

Considerable federal, state and municipal money has already gone into this project, but community association officials say more will be needed to make the dream a reality.

This is a project well worth both public and private support.

It provides jobs, economic opportunities and helps keep a piece of Hawai'i history alive and thriving.