Thieves in Hawaii Kai have left an Irish band without the merchandise that was meant to cover their travel costs to the islands. The band, Derek Warfield & the Young Wolfe Tones, is visiting Oahu to help raise money for the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Waikiki.
Sometime Tuesday evening, car thieves broke into a van rented by the group and took three suitcases containing about 300 of their CDs, 20 books on Irish music and 100 scarves emblazoned with the band’s name and designed with the Irish national colors of green, white and orange. The items would be of little value to anyone except the band’s fans, said band member and banjo player Damaris Woods.
Now the band is asking the thieves to return the items — no questions asked. Woods said the band, which plays Irish folk songs, would have raised $6,000 from selling the items at their concerts, covering most of the band’s cost of this trip.
"To us it’s invaluable," Woods, 40, said. "Now we have no merchandise to sell, so we’re kind of upset. We just really want our merchandise back."
She said four members of the band arrived on Oahu on Tuesday and dropped off their instruments at their host’s home in Niu Valley.
They left the merchandise in a rental van because they didn’t think anyone would want a heavy suitcase full of CDs, Woods said. After visiting the Koko Marina Center and the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, the band returned home where they realized the handle on the driver’s side of the van was damaged and their cases were gone.
Bill Comerford of the local nonprofit group Friends of St. Patrick said the band pays its own way to Hawaii from Ireland to help raise money for the parade. This is the band’s third trip here.
He said the group’s two performances this weekend will raise about 20 percent of the $10,000 it costs to organize the parade, the longest-running one in Waikiki and in its 47th year.
He said he hopes the thieves turn in the property.
"They (the group) do us the favor of bringing live music from Ireland," he said. "Whatever they have in peripheral sales … helps to offset their costs."
Woods said Waikiki’s parade is important because every year it’s the last St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world.
The band’s founder, Derek Warfield, 70, has been performing for 50 years and has long had merchandise to sell at his shows.
"I was kind of shocked," Warfield said. "We’re always greeted with exceptional hospitality and generosity from the folks here. It’s not something that’s characteristic of the people in Honolulu."
The group performed at the Irish Rose Saloon in Waikiki on Friday and will play at Anna O’Brien’s in Moiliili today.
Anyone who wants to turn over the merchandise can drop it off at the Irish Rose Saloon, Anna O’Brien’s or to police, or return it by calling Bill Comerford at 223-3997.
