How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

If you thought last weekend was big, hold on to your shamrock deely bobbers. This is the really big St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Here’s what’s happening Saturday:

• There are four St. Patrick’s Day parades, with Springfield, Delaware County, starting at West Springfield Road and Britton Road and ending at Saxer Avenue and Powell Road, beginning at 12 noon. Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 1 hosts the Montgomery County parade, beginning at 2 p.m., proceeding down Fayette Street in Conshohocken. Wilmington starts at 12 noon and runs through 1:45 p.m., stepping off from 4^thand King Streets. If you’re in the Lehigh Valley area, the Parade of Shamrocks starts at 1 p.m. in downtown Bethlehem, stepping off from 10^thAvenue and Broad Street, and continuing down Broad to Main, ending under the Hill-to-Hill Bridge. The weather looks great for all.
• Following the Bethlehem parade, it’s the Fáilte Festival at the Charles A. Brown Ice House, featuring a day’s entertainment, including Timlin and Kane with O’Grady Quinlan Academy of Irish Dance, the clown prince of Irish music Seamus Kennedy, and piper Robert Watt.(The festival continues Sunday.) Tickets here.
• Tenor Emmet Cahill of Celtic Thunder Fame is on stage at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, 601 North Lansdowne Avenue in Drexel Hill, starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets here.
• Michael Londra and the Celtic Fire—we interviewed him recently—appears with a big show of Irish music and dance at the Zellerbach Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut Street on the Penn campus. The show starts at 8 p.m. Info and tickets here.
• Catch Galway Guild at Xfinity Live, 1100 Pattison Avenue in South Philly. The band plays from 2 to 6 p.m.
• Starting at 2 p.m., the John Byrne Band takes the stage at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main Street in scenic New Hope. It’s part of the Playhouse’s weekend Irish Music Festival. Tickets are 20 bucks. It’s a fabulous venue. Following that, Celtic-American band The River Drivers appear on the Playhouse stage starting at 8. Tickets are $25.
• The 69^thPennsylvania Irish Volunteers Band hosts at St. Patrick’s Performance at Crooked Eye Brewery, 13 East Montgomery Avenue in Hatboro. The performance is from 7 to 11 p.m.
• Celtic Pride featuring Bill and Jim Monaghan and friends, plays the Washington Crossing Inn, 1295 General Washington Memorial Boulevard in Washington Crossing, at 8:30 p.m.
• Shenanigans returns to Marty Magee’s, 1110 Lincoln Avenue in Prospect Park, starting at 9 p.m. and continuing through the wee hours.

We’re only halfway through the weekend. It’s about to get crazier on Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s what’s on:

• One way to start the day is with Judge Jimmy Lynn’s Annual Breakfast Buffet at the Plough and Stars, 2^ndStreet between Market and Chestnut in Old City. The fun starts at 7 with a full Irish breakfast, with live music and visit all morning long by Irish dancers, bagpipers and more.
• (Later in the day at the Plough, live music by Stephen Dodds, from noon on.)
• Just around the corner at Front and Chestnut, starting at 11 a.m., join a raft of dignitaries, including Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Congressman Brendan Boyle, Councilman Mark Squilla and state Rep. Michael Driscoll for the annual wreath presentation, shamrock planting and changing of the flags at the Irish Memorial. The event is hosted by Fox 29’s Kathy Orr, with performances by Tim Kelly, the Philadelphia Emerald Society Pipe Band and the McDade dancers.
• Up at Breen’s at 704 Huntingdon Pike in Jenkintown, starting at 9 a.m., there’s another breakfast opportunity. It’s the annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast to benefit the Patrick Kerr Scholarship at Roman Catholic High School. Music by Celtic Connection. $20 donation.
• If you’re out near West Chester, there’s a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at Kildare’s, starting at 9 a.m. and running through 10 p.m. Music all day by The One and Only Malarkey Brothers, and the John Byrne Band.
• The Irish Center in Mount Airy will be open all day. Mass at noon, followed by breakfast buffet and music by Vince Gallagher starting at 2:00 p.m. Drop in! Memberships are available.
• Ancient Order of Hibernians Commodore John Barry Division 1, 200 Columbia Boulevard in National Park, N.J., will be hosting an open house, from noon on. If you have a hankering for ham and cabbage, that’s where to get it. Music by the Broken Shillelaghs. $5 cover. Cash bar.
• You can catch Galway Guild at the Hard Rock Casino, 1000 Boardwalk in Atlantic City. They’re on from noon to 3 p.m.
• The Fáilte Festival continues at the Ice House in Bethlehem, starting at 3 p.m. Appearances by O’Grady Quinlan Academy of Irish Dance, Alison Gillespie and Joanna Mell, Robert Watt and the Rogue Diplomats.
• You might not expect to hear Irish music at Maggiano’s Little Italy—we were surprised, too—but the talented House of Hamill is scheduled to appear from 5 to 7 p.m. Maggiano’s is at 1201 Filbert Street in Center City.
• Finally, the supergroup Barleyjuice has a show at World Café Live, 3025 Walnut Street in the city. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the show starts at 8. Tickets and info here.

On to the rest of the week.

Tuesday night Damien McGinty appears at World Café Live. The show starts at 8 p.m. Damien McGinty is a former member of Celtic Thunder.

Thursday starting at 6 p.m., Villanova Irish Studies hosts a reading by Mike McCormack, author  of “Solar Bones.” The reception starts at 6:00 p.m. Reading starts at 7:00 p.m. Presidents’ Lounge in Villanova’s Connelly Center.

Catch Bucks County’s wonderfully creative Celtic band Runa at Sellersville Theater, Friday at 8 p.m. The theater is at 24 West Temple Avenue in Sellersville. Tickets and info here.

We’re certain that we haven’t listed every event in the coming week. More are popping up all the time. Your best bet is to keep very close tabs on our Facebook page, where bands and bars and so forth are always adding to the mix. Have a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day.