No wonder! Saint Paddy’s Day in Honolulu still the biggest in the Pacific

HONOLULU—The biggest Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in the Pacific is the block party that takes place in Honolulu’s “Irish corner,” at Nuuanu Avenue and Merchant Street. Thousands of hours of planning and labor contribute to an event that lasts less than six hours.

Two days before the largest Saint Patrick’s Day street festival in the Pacific, it’s a normal lunchtime at the Irish corner. Only the steel sawhorse blinkers lining the streets hint at anything that might disrupt the smoldering routine of a business district in the daylight. Don Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Bar & Grill and humble ringmaster of the block party, carefully waters the blooming gardenia hanging from the aged red brick of his establishment’s erstwhile facade, on a suspect but faithful wooden ladder. Before long, many thousands of people will descend on this corner for food, drink, entertainment, and a cheerful crush of humanity.

But why Saint Patrick’s Day? Why here? The Irish have figured into the social, political, and economic state of affairs in Hawaii since their arrival, whether that landfall involved religion, colonialism, or flat-out ambition. What does Ireland have to do with Hawaii, anyway? And what does it mean to be Irish in paradise?

“People think it’s about drinking,” says Bill Comerford, co-owner of three Irish pubs in Honolulu. He scratches his whitened beard. Long an advocate for small business rights, Comerford smiles. “It’s about community,” he says. There is no trace of an Irish brogue in his speech.

Because his actual birth-date was unknown and given the choice to choose it, King David Kalakaua chose Saint Patrick’s Day. One of his closest advisers was an Irishman. Lewers Street in Waikiki, the epicenter of Hawaii tourism, is named for an Irishman. James Dodd, another Irishman, became Honolulu’s police chief after making a living catching cannon balls with his belly and operating a pub. Names like James Campbell continue to stir controversy in property development rights. Most of Hawaii’s most laudable political offices have been held by those of Irish descent.

Anecdotes about the Irish in Hawaii abound. But only among those that know them. The Irish have always held the publican, the bar owner, as a revered figure. He or she provides the parlor that hosts the talkers who behave with wit and with wisdom. According to Comerford, “We are the community’s living room.”

As flat-bed trucks assemble on the day before The Day, it’s all work. A small village of tents springs up in what was yesterday (and tomorrow) a parking lot. Area regulars sneer and gloat at the certainty of a guaranteed bacchanal.

Invaded, conquered, colonized and, finally, imperialized, Hawaii and Ireland share much in common. But, who cares? It’s Saint Paddy’s.

For more information, visit http://murphyshawaii.com/st-patricks-day-2010/.

Murphy’s St. Patricks Day Block Party
Wednesday, March 17
6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Nuuanu Avenue in Downtown Honolulu