To the outside world there has been no more vivid symbol of the storied history of Lahaina, and its potential for rebirth, than a 150-year-old banyan tree in the center of town whose scarred branches are now, two months after a devastating wildfire, sprouting new, green leaves.
The tree’s image adorns "Lahaina Strong” logos on T-shirts and coffee mugs for sale by online merchants. And when U.S. President Joe Biden visited Maui after the fire, he pointed to the tree as a metaphor for hope and resilience.
"I believe it is a powerful, a very powerful, symbol of what we can and will do to get through the crisis,” the president said.