Oh come on, if you don’t know how to be Irish this week, you need to join a new ethnic group. The Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade steps off the curb at noon on Sunday, but don’t stake out your usual spot on Broad Street. It won’t be marching down that avenue, but starting out around 16th and JFK—a course correction to save some money. It’s the biggest parade ever, with bands from as far away as Ireland, Connecticut, and Maryland. A Mass will be celebrated before the parade at 9 AM by Cardinal Justin Rigali at St. Patrick’s Church at 20th and Locust.
You can watch the parade on CBS3. But it’s a good time, even in bad weather (\we know, we froze our Irish off last year), so come on out. Bring a nonperishable food donation with you. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News–new parade sponsors this year–will have volunteers along the parade route to collect them for the needy.
There are after-parade parties all over, but we’ll probably wind up at the Irish Center where there will be great food and wonderful music.
But let’s not skip over Saturday:
There are at least seven parades on Saturday: Levittown, York, Conshohocken, Trenton, Wilmington, New Castle, and Springfield, Delaware County (look for us in Springfield this year, a first for us!). In the morning, take the kids to Willow Creek Orchards in Collegeville where they’re holding a shamrock cookie decorating workshop (you need to pre-register).
On Saturday afternoon, the Erin Express—the drink fest you can really enjoy because the bars provide buses—is happening in Center City Philadelphia (see our calendar for the participating pubs).
At Archbishop Prendergast, there’s a freebie Saturday—St. Malachy’s College Music Tour from Belfast is there thanks to the Dennis Kelly AOH, Division #1, Havertown and the new Junior AOH Division #1 at Monsignor Bonner High School.
Also Saturday night: Burning Bridget Cleary will be heating it up at the Tin Angel, The Broken Shillelaghs are repairing to The Blue Martini at Bally’s in Atlantic City, The Morrigan (a trad group) is bringing some civilization to the Scots at Braveheart Pub in Hellertown, and The Boys of County Bucks will be entertaining the wine drinkers at Crossing Vineyard and Winery in Washington Crossing.
The Boys will also be performing on Sunday. Also on tap for Sunday: Singer Tommy Sands will be doing two shows at Longwood Gardens, and Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains will be making their annual pilgrimage to the Kimmel.
And it’s not over yet. It’s not even St. Patrick’s Day! On Monday, the Marple Sports Arena is holding a Family-Friendly St. Patty’s Sports Night with skating to Irish music.
Then, Tuesday dawns. Here’s a rundown of just some of the things you can do on the 2009 St. Paddy’s Day:
Have a big Irish breakfast at Fado Pub in Philadelphia to benefit the Patrick Kerr Memorial Scholarship at Roman Catholic High School.
You suburbanites: Head to Brittinghams in Lafayette Hill or The Shanachie Pub in Ambler to hear music all day. Don’t play favorites—go back and forth between the two.
Plan on having a ham and cabbage dinner with the New Castle County Irish Society, or with musicians Mike and Kitty Kelly-Albrecht at the Spring Mill Café in Conshohocken, or with Shades of Green at Crossing vineyards and Winery in Washington Crossing.
Then, if you have any energy left (and you’ll need it), those crazy boys from DC, Scythian, will be holding “the Big Jig” at The Trocadero on Arch Street in Philly.
In Sellersville, Bill Monaghan and Celtic Pride are appearing at The Sellersville Theatre, and you can have your St. Paddy’s Day meal next door at The Washington House.
The amazing Solas is appearing at World Café Live.
Sir James Galway is performing with the York Symphony Orchestra in York.
The Broken Shillelaghs are appearing at Oh! Hara’s Pub in Gloucester City, NJ.
Frank McCourt’s “The Irish and How They Got That Way” is on the bill at the Kimmel Center till the end of the month.
The remarkable Irish trad group, Slide, is appearing at the baby grand @ The Grand in Wilmongton on Thursday. Check out our story, photos and six videos from their recent show at The Irish Center. Wow.
Then, on Friday, the inimitable Karan Casey will appear at the World Café Live. We saw her in December during the Teada Christmas tour at the Irish Center, and she blew us away.
There are more parades coming up, including Allentown’s and Girardsville’s, and plenty more Celtic events this month, including our own: GiveWay, a quartet of young talented sisters from Scotland who play and sing traditional music with a jazzy style. And they are way cute. That’s coming up on March 28. Hope to see you there!
