HILO — Hilo residents are encouraged to contact police with any information about an act of vandalism at the Liliuokalani Park and Gardens teahouse.
The teahouse, which was built in 1997, was found Friday morning with a large graffiti tag sprayed across one wall. A similar tag was found on the park’s bathroom.
“I won’t call it graffiti or tags or street art,” said K.T. Cannon-Eger, president of the Friends of Liliuokalani Gardens. “This is vandalism.”
Although the graffiti on the bathrooms was quickly painted over, the vandalism to the teahouse will be more difficult to remove. The building was constructed using aged, unpainted wood, and will have to be scrubbed off, Cannon-Eger said.
Roxcie Waltjen, director of the Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation, said much of the wood used in the teahouse’s construction was imported from Japan and requires a special cleaning solution and soft scouring pads.
The building, called Shoroan, is the second teahouse to be built in the park. The first building, built in 1972, was a gift from the Urasenke School of Tea in Japan for the Urasenke Hilo Association to practice traditional Japanese tea-making and tea ceremonies.
The first teahouse was destroyed by arson in 1994, and was remade in 1997.
“It’s a bad way to try to express yourself, by painting over a cultural landmark,” Waltjen observed.
The Friends of Liliuokalani Gardens will hold a maintenance day today until noon, with some manpower being diverted to cleaning the graffiti. Cannon-Eger said the event will welcome the “time, talent or treasure of anyone willing to help.”
A similar vandalism incident occurred at the teahouse last year, Cannon-Eger said, although the tags involved were much smaller than the one that appeared Friday. The aftermath of that incident took three days to clean.
The Department of Parks and Recreation is requesting that anybody who may have seen suspicious activity at the park Thursday night or Friday morning report that information to the police, Waltjen said, adding that, should the perpetrator be identified, the department “definitely will prosecute.”
Apart from the teahouse, Waltjen said vandalism has been a growing problem at parks throughout the county and can be difficult to enforce.
Cannon-Eger described a list of various cases of vandalism that have recently occurred at the Liliuokalani Park alone, including graffiti on the park’s bridges, damage to the stone lanterns, and more.
“It’s very disturbing,” Cannon-Eger said. “Most people in the community have such a special place in their hearts for the gardens. Those who don’t, they ruin it for everyone.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com