Looking for Merrie Monarch tickets

[csgray]

I think the principal here is that this event is a non profit event fueled by thousands of volunteer hours, which allows them to keep ticket prices affordable for everyone in the community who wants to support Hawaiian culture in general and hula in particular. If it turns into the kind of event where people are buying tickets to scalp them at prices that are unaffordable for most of the community, it becomes an entirely different sort of event. Just because some people can use their greater financial clout to get tickets from craigslist or from someone directly, without ordering them through Merrie Monarch doesn't make it pono.

I understand and respect Merrie Monarch for not wanting tickets to be scalped for anything above face value. Because of that I would never violate the social contract by paying more than face value for tickets, just because I didn't get it together to order my tickets in December. Merrie Monarch is trying to protect this event from turning into another exploitation of local culture that is out of reach for the local community. Merrie Monarch could sell out at twice, or even triple the price, but then the people who most appreciate the event couldn't afford to be there, instead the stands would be full of tourists who do not have a cultural connection to what is happening onstage. That cultural connection is in part made through memories of seeing cousins and aunties on that stage after sacrificing for years to get their halau there. It would be a shame to see that inter generational connection destroyed by tickets becoming a commodity sold to the highest bidder.

Carol

[KeaauRich]

Well, now that Deborah has gotten her tickets, I'm looking for two tickets on behalf of a former renter at our vacation rental. She lives in Japan and has come over to Hilo several times for Merrie Monarch. She had tickets last year, but had to cancel due to the tsunami. She's coming back to Hilo in April, but was unable to secure tickets to this year's competition. If anyone knows someone who might have two extra tickets to sell (at face value...) could you let me know?

Like Rob, I much prefer to watch the event on TV - We go Wednesday night for the live experience to remind ourselves how uncomfortable the benches are, and then religiously watch the remaining evenings from our comfy sofa, where there is no line for the bathroom and no need to buy tickets if one wants a cold beverage.

[opihikao]

csgray: Bravo! Exactly...You hit the nail on the head. Totally agree....100%. Mahalo for a perfect explanation.

[Kelena]

Concur csgray. So beautifully put. I don't miss the mainland acquisitiveness. I did bring some with me, and it is hard to let go of. Not getting what you want can sometimes be a blessing, unanswered prayers and all that. One thing I have my eye on is the hula that is regularly performed at the summit of Kilauea, out of doors. You can bring chairs, make yourself comfortable and enjoy hula in a stunning setting.

I really want to go to Merrie Monarch this year. It is my first year on island, I am having a milestone birthday the day before Merrie Monarch begins, and I have a sincere and apparently abiding interest in hula and Hawaiian culture. I was not able to get tickets. I still hope to go, but if I don't get to go to Merrie Monarch, I will thank heavens that I am getting better at handling disappointments, I will go to the volcano to see the hula, and then I will come home and do my own solitary dance to the sun, the moon, my hale, the cliff, the mountain towering behind me, to the rain and to the waterfall.

[Carey]

Also worth noting that throughout the Merrie Monarch, from the Easter Sunday through the final night, hula is all around us, and much of it is just for the gift of hula.... It truly was chicken skin to walk the rim trails the first Merrie Monarch after the old Halemaumau wooden platform was reclaimed.... you would come to openings along the trail, and there would be a halau offering their hula, not to the audience, not to the tourists, most likely not to the sweating hikers, but to the love of hula and the home of Pele.

I am sorry that my post did get so construed, it was totally offered in the spirit of the Merrie Monarch...something I have been very blessed to be able to enjoy, and to give... I would like to believe that it would have been taken in that spirit. And thank you Carol for putting the words to the meaning...

[dmbwest]

Amen to that Carol !

I debated on using pono in lieu of good but based on responses to you, I figured the person did not have an understanding of the word.

you give love you get love
aloha,
pog

[hawaiideborah]

quote:

---

Originally posted by csgray

I can use their greater financial clout to get tickets from craigslist or from someone directly, without ordering them through Merrie Monarch doesn't make it pono.

just because I didn't get it together to order my tickets in December.

Carol

---

Well lots of assumptions.
We DID order the tickets DIRECTLY. Three of us all went to the Hilo Post Office on the FIRST day the tickets could be postmarked and be accepted. This happened the last 2 years AND this year. And we will do it again next year. I even asked the postal clerk if the mail would go into the Hilo PO box for Merrie Monarch that smae day since we were mailing it at the same post office as their box.
Guess what? 3 years in a row and we get the postal money order sent back to all 3 of us saying they were sold out.
What is interesting is if you had attended the last 2 years there were TONS of Japanese speaking tourists in the General Admission sections. How in the world would they get the tickets if we couldn't get them mailing them the first day at the exact post office?
Something is fishy with giving tickets out, for sure.

Also, what is being offered on Craigslist is $20 more per ticket for 3 nights, that is $6.66 per ticket per night. Not exactly big bucks.

For me, I am PONO because the last 2 years AND this year I was able to get tickets for the price they sold to original buyer for.
I did not pay the BIG INFLATED $6.66 more per ticket per night. There are sure better easier more pono ways to make $20 off 3 nights of tickets than "scalping" them for a measly $20.

All I am saying, if you have been there in the last 2 years, how in the world do all the Japanese speaking tourists get those seats in the general admission area? They are often in groups of 4 to 7. we really noted how many there were last year after this big ta-do over how the tickets are on the up and up. NOT SO, something is not quite right the last 2 years.

Still hold that the idea of ticket police is absurd. This is a festival and folks are not going around asking for id and asking how much you paid for your ticket.

[Carey]

I agree that the idea of ticket police is absurd, and you, HD, are the only one who has stated that there are.

I stated that it is not in the spirit of the Merrie Monarch & I also did include an article link that puts into print some of Auntie Luane feelings on people asking or offering more than the ticket price....not sure if you are claiming SHE is your "ticket police" .... but I would think by now you would just drop this, as you have your tickets & do not really care that offering more than the ticket price was not something she would want... I would rather honor her wishes than my desires... as I do not have anything but the utmost respect for what her family has done for hula & for Hilo.

[kjlpahoa]

The ticket office has a wait list that you can put your name on and then you will be notified if there are tickets due to cancellations. That is how I got my 2 tickets 2 years ago. BTW, I had them start using a wait list. They had never thought of it.

[Kapohofan]

Great discussion,all. My husband and I, too, sent in our ticket application and money order on December 26th, but were unsuccessful again this year.

Does anyone have two tickets, any night, any seat, they won't be using that we can buy from you?

mahalo!

Denise