The first of several local St. Patrick’s Day parades happens Saturday in Mt. Holly, NJ, with a tent full of music afterward featuring Jamison, the Shantys, Galway Guild, Broken Shillelaghs, the Mulligans and Clancy’s Pistol. The annual Burlington County parade starts at 1 pm. The grand marshal is Bob Tippin, president and co-founder of the AOH Mike Doyle Division of Cinnaminson, NJ and a Philly natve )a grad of Northeast Catholic High School).
This weekend we also welcome a new parade to the tradition. On Sunday, March 6, for the first time ever in one of the biggest Irish enclaves in the region, Gloucester City, NJ, there will be pipers and marching bands celebrating the great and glorious St. Patrick, starting on Monmouth Street. The Gloucester County AOH will also be celebrating the evening before at Richard Rossiter Memorial Hall with its annual Irish Night featuring the Broken Shillelaghs, a buffet, draft beer, wine, dessert and coffee.
There are so many events this week that we’re just going to list them in chronological order.
Saturday, March 5
The Theresa Flanagan Band will be performing at a benefit for St. Lucy School for Children with visual impairments at Holy Innocents Church hall in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia. It starts at noon.
The Bogside Rogues will be at Paddy Whacks on Roosevelt Boulevard at Welsh Road.
The Hooligans are performing at a St. Patrick’s Day Party at St. Mary Parish Gym in Schwenksville sponsored by AOH Div. 6 of Montgomery County.
The Grand Marshal’s ball for the Conshohocken parade (that’s next Saturday) is being held at the Elmwood Zoo Banquet Hall in Norristown. John Tobin is Conshy’s GM this year.
The John Byrne Band is playing at Good Time Cholly’s in Clifton Heights.
And Jamison will be at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill.
Sunday, March 6
The 57 Irish immigrants whose remains and memory were once lost to the mists of time will be honored starting at 2:30 PM at West Laurel Hill cemetery in Bala Cynwd. The remains of several victims of Duffy’s Cut, who died as the result of cholera or murder in 1832, are now interred in the cemetery, which has a permanent memorial to their memory.
RUNA, a Celtic roots group from Philadelphia, will be on stage at the Irish Center in Philadelphia.
Wednesday, March 9
Slainte will be performing at the Tavern on Broad in Philadelphia.
Thursday, March 10
The annual Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Wreath Laying will take place at 3 PM on the west side of City Hall in Philadelphia at the plaque memorializing the Irish who served during the Revolutionary War. This will be followed by a proclamation read by Mayor Jim Kenney making March “Irish month” in the city. Later, the grand marshal of the parade, Paul Doris, will be sashed along with the St. Patrick’s Ring of Honor at the annual dinner gala at the Double Tree Hotel in Philadelphia.
The AOH Notre Dame Division 1 is holding its annual Irish Coffee Contest featuring entries from restaurants, individuals and groups in what has become a popular event in Bridgeport/Swedesboro every March.
Friday, March 11
Tickets are nearly sold out for this annual event: The john Byrne Band with No Irish Need Apply at the World Café Live in Philadelphia.
The Na Toraidghe hurlers will be out of uniform and in their best duds for their St. Patrick’s Day formal at Tir na nOg inPhiladelphia this evening.
We’ll be telling you about the rest of March’s events next week, though you can take a sneak peek at the calendar and beat us to the punch. (And keep checking back–we add something new every day!)
Next week, pray for good weather. Philadelphia, Springfield Delco, Bucks County, Conshohocken and Sellersville all have parades scheduled.
Also coming up: Paddypalooza, an Irish festival and block part at Curran’s Tacony in Philadelphia with Jamison, Seamus McGroary and Mike Shackleton providing the music. The event raises money for The Claddagh Fund, a local charity founded by The Dropkick Murphys’ lead singer Ken Casey that provides grants for underfunded nonprofits in the Philadelphia area. You’ll have a chance to win meet-and-greet tickets to the Dropkick Murphys’ March 13 show at the Electric Factory (which has been sold out for months). There will also be autographed DKM merchandise too. You must buy tickets in advance for the event which starts at noon and goes on till whenever. It sold out last year.
And post-Philly parade next week: Sober St. Patrick’s Day at WHYY, featuring topnotch trad performers such as The Yanks, Reel to Reel, Alex Weir and Mikey McComiskey, Darrin Kelley, as well as Irish dancers from McDade Cara and Emerald Isle, along with Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Mairead Comaskey. It’s a great place for people in recovery, families with young kids, or anyone who enjoys good music or likes to dance to kick back after the parade. We went last year and really enjoyed it.
