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Several dozen people lined the sidewalk near the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki Saturday to protest the city’s awarding of a contract to run concession stands offering surf lessons and outrigger canoe rides to a new vendor. Read more

Several dozen people lined the sidewalk near the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki Saturday to protest the city’s awarding of a contract to run concession stands offering surf lessons and outrigger canoe rides to a new vendor, ousting a longtime business providing beachboy services.

Karen Ah Choy, a surfing instructor at the Star Beachboys concession for 32 years, said the new vendor, Dive Oahu, plans to pay instructors less while raising rates for lessons.

“I see corporations coming and taking over” the area, she said.

Ah Choy was joined by at least 40 others who sat in beach chairs or stood in front of the statue holding signs such as “Land of the Greed” and upside-down Hawaiian flags signaling distress.

Brian Benton, owner of Dive Oahu, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Star Beachboys vacated the property last week after losing a court motion to block the city’s contract with the new vendor. City officials have said Dive Oahu won the contract after submitting the highest bid, while Star Beachboys submitted the second-highest bid.

Lori Saxman, a desk captain for Star Beachboys who has worked for the company since the 1990s, said she and others fear many longtime surf instructors will be turned out and that Waikiki’s famed beachboy culture will be lost under the new vendor.

“This is a special place,” she said. “I feel it’s going to be whitewashed.”

Last week Dive Oahu’s manager, Shelly Rofrits, said the company is willing to hire surf instructors and canoe captains who currently work for Star Beachboys as independent contractors.

“Anyone who wants to apply at the beach, they are more than welcome to do so,” Rofrits said.

Micah Garrett, a surfing instructor for Star Beachboys for about 10 years, said beachboys don’t just teach surfing but share local knowledge and friendship with visitors.

“This place is where it was started,” he said. “There’s something about keeping the people that started it.”