Well, you know it’s St. Paddy’s month now. The “Erin Express”—Philly’s 30-year-old pub crawl—leaves for the first time this year on Saturday at noon. Ten buses will take revelers to some of the city’s best Irish pubs and you don’t need a reservation or a ticket. Check our calendar for participating establishments, and drink responsibly.
The first of the region’s parades steps off the curb on Saturday—Mount Holly, NJ’s march is expected to be the biggest ever.
And here’s the rest of the lineup for Saturday:
•Conshohocken will hold its parade grand marshal’s ball in Jeffersonville.
•Queen of Peace Parish in Ardsley has scheduled its annual Irish night fundraiser.
•Sean nos singer Terry Kane and her partner John Beatty will be performing at Porter’s Pub in Easton, part of the Celtic Cultural Alliance’s Celtic music nights.
•Incredible harper Grainne Hambley and her musical partner William Jackson will perform at Calvary Church in Philadelphia.
•Solas is appearing at the Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in Elmer, NJ
•Gloucester County Div. 1 AOH is holding its St. Patrick’s Day party at Richard Rossiter in National Park, NJ.
•Danu is appearing at the Annenberg Center.
• Frank McCourt’s “The Irish and How They Got That Way” is in the beginning of a four-week run at The Kimmel Center.
Then, on Sunday:
Head over to the Springfield Country Club to hear Blackthorn—they’re playing a fundraiser for the Philly St. Paddy’s Day Parade, which came up $40,000 short in the city’s budget crunch.
Before you go, fortify yourself with a full Irish breakfast spread laid out by AOH Div. 22 at Smoke Eater’s Pub—it too is a fundraiser for the parade and other AOH charities.
The rest of the week:
• Scottish group Malinky will appear at the Bethlehem BrewWorks, a fundraiser for the Celtic Cultural Alliance, on Tuesday night.
• Folklorist and musician Mick Moloney will give a musical talk on Jewish and Irish collaborations in Vaudeville and early Tin Pan Alley at the Falvey Library Lounge at Villanova on Tuesday night. The following night, Gerald Dawe, Heimbold professor of Irish studies, will give a talk and reading.
• On Thursday morning, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick will hold its annual wreath laying ceremony at City Hall, and Mayor Michael Nutter will read a proclamation marking St. Patrick’s Day in the city. A luncheon follows, and Ring of Honor winners, including Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and District Attorney Lynne Abraham and families of slain Philadelphia police officers will be honored.
• In York, Barleyjuice will be performing on Thursday night, and in Borders in Springfield, golf writer Tom Coyne, author of “A Course Called Ireland,” about his own personal golf tour and genealogy trip to Ireland, will do a book signing.
• AOH Div. 1 in Swedesburg has its annual Irish Coffee Contest on the schedule for Thursday night—it’s always a lot of fun, and there’s a two-time winner that’s facing some steep challenges this year.
• Also on Thursday, Black 47 will raise the roof at the World Café Live, the second “Rambling House” evening of entertainment will be happening at the Irish Center, and Cathie Ryan will be performing at the Montgomery County Community College in a benefit for victims of domestic violence served by the Women’s Center of Montgomery County.
• Friday’s lineup: Bell X1 at the World Café Live, the coronation of the King and Queen of the Allentown Parade, Flogging Molly in Atlantic City, a benefit party sponsored by the American Ireland Fund’s Young Leaders of Philadelphia, and Burning Bridget Cleary burning it up in Spinnerstown.
Next weekend it’s the big Philadelphia St. Paddy’s Day Parade, and much, much more.
