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Whether your full blown Irish, or just enjoy wearing green, eating corn beef
& cabbage, and enjoying a pint of Guinness and a shot of Jameson;
Philadelphia has a lot of festive occasions going on that will see you having a
festive celebration this St. Patrick’s Day. So without further adieu here’s a
look here’s a look at all of the parades, music performances, and bar nights
that will have you saying Erin Go Bragh. Slainte!
St. Paddy’s c
An Irish twist to Philadelphia’s rich history of ghost stories, haunted
houses and eerie cemeteries, with tales of banshees, bogies and hobgoblins! The
Ghost Tour meanders from Old City to South Street on a trail of supernatural
tales that just might scare the shamrock out of everyone!
Ghost Tours of
Philadelphia
March 12-March 13, 2010
Tickets: $15/person; $8 ages
4-12
Ghost
Tours of Philadelphia
Erin Express 2010
ERIN EXPRESS is a bar crawl of some of Philadelphia’s finest Irish
establishments. It was started by William Pawliczek of Cavanaugh’s and Paul
Ryan, Sr. of Smokey Joe’s over 30 years ago.
There is no cost, no tickets, no reservations, no bracelets and no cover
charge while busses are running! There are 10 busses that run from 12:00 PM
until 5:30 PM on March 13. They run in a continuous loop so there is no starting
point and no ending point!
So show up to any participating bar, get a beverage and when you’re ready to
move on, go outside and a bus should arrive every 15-20 minutes to take you to
the next bar!
Participating restaurants will feature food specials, as well as Irish
Music.
Traditional Irish beers like Harp and Guinness will be
available.
Erin Express 2010
Running of the Micks
Philadelphia’s 2010 Running of the Micks is a St. Patrick’s-themed Bus Pub
Crawl which includes a ‘RUN’ up The Art Museum steps.
This year’s party starts at 10am at Finnigan’s Wake in Northern Liberties.
Pickup your wristbands at the registration table from 10am-2pm. Buses will
depart from Finnigan’s at 3:00pm SHARP.
If you live in South Jersey or Manayunk, sign up for our buses leaving from
The Pour House in Westmont, NJ or from Kildare’s in Manayunk. We have buses
designated on the reservation page providing you round-trip transportation
specifically from those bars to Finnigan’s and will join the rest of the Micks
on the crawl (buses depart at 2pm from those bars and will return at 7pm).
ORANGE Bus Schedule:
10:00am-3pm: Event Registration (required for all participants). Wristband
Pickup. Please bring valid ID and PayPal receipt with you.
3:00pm: Buses depart Finnigan’s Wake for Urban Saloon. $3 Beers, $5 Jameson,
Bus Competitions, and DJ Dance Party.
4:30pm: Buses depart Urban Saloon and head to the Art Museum for the ‘2010
Running of the Micks’ up the Art Museum Steps!
4:45pm: Immediately following the run up the Art Museum steps, buses depart
for the Field House. $3 Beers, $5 Jameson, and Live Music.
6:30pm: Buses depart Field House and head back to 3rd and Spring Garden
Streets. Finnigan’s will honor the wristbands until 8pm. Additional venues to be
determined.
GREEN Bus Schedule:
10:00am-3pm: Event Registration (required for all participants). Wristband
Pick-up. Please bring valid ID and PayPal receipt with you.
3:30pm: Buses depart Finnigan’s Wake for the Field House. $3 Beers, $5
Jameson, Bus Competitions, and Live Music.
5:00pm: Buses depart Field House and head to the Art Museum for the ‘2010
Running of the Micks’ up the Art Museum Steps!
5:15pm: Immediately following the run up the Art Museum steps, buses depart
for the Urban Saloon. $3 Beers, $5 Jameson, and DJ Dance Party.
7:00pm: Buses depart Urban Saloon and and head back to 3rd and Spring Garden
Streets. Finnigan’s will honor the wristbands until 8pm. Additional venues to be
determined.
Tickets
Running of the Micks
The Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The Irish in Philadelphia first celebrated St. Patrick’s Day 1771, five years
before the Declaration of Independence was signed! The first documented St.
Patrick’s Day Celebration Parade in Philadelphia was held in 1771, celebrating
over 240 continuous years of celebrations. This parade is the 2nd oldest Parade
in the Country, topped only by the New York City Parade which started in 1766.
The Philadelphia St Patrick’s Day Parade, which is hosted by the St. Patrick’s
Day Observance Association, was incorporated as a non profit organization in
1952.
Each year the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association hosts the parade on
the Sunday prior to St. Patrick’s Day unless March 17th falls on Sunday. When
March 17th falls on a Sunday, the parade is held on March 17th, St. Patrick’s
Feast Day.
Throughout the years this celebration has honored this religious and cultural
celebration. Thousands of marchers and spectators in their green bedecked
finery, the bands and floats, the flags and music highlight one of the grandest
parades in a city that loves parades.
On Sunday, March 14, 2010, at 9:00 AM, the Commemorative Parade Mass is in
Saint Patrick’s Church at 20th and Locust Streets in Center City. Prior to the
Mass, at 8:45 AM, the Procession of the Grand Marshal (Seamus Boyle) and the
Board Members will be led by the Emerald Society Pipe Band. The National Anthem
of Ireland will be sung by Karen Boyce McCollum ,and the National Anthem of The
United States will be sung by Frank Gallagher. If you plan to attend the Mass,
please arrive prior to 8:40 AM.
The Principal Celebrant of the Mass is Cardinal Justin Rigali with Chaplains
Bishop Joseph P McFadden, Fr. Kevin Gallagher and Fr. Chris Walsh as
concelebrants. The Responsorial Psalm is being sung by Karen Boyce McCollum.
After Mass, there will be refreshments served at the School Hall and then we
leave for the Parade. If any group would like to reserve pews, please notify
Leonard Armstrong by March 1, at 215-834-2047.
Philadelphia St.
Patrick’s Day Parade
Black 47 at World Cafe Live
Black 47 will celebrate their 20th Anniversary in 2010. Back in the early
90’s Black 47 helped create the modern Irish Festival. They had recently
appeared on Leno, Letterman & O’Brien and introduced a whole new generation
of Irish-Americans to their roots.
Black 47 has always been more than just a band. When they formed in 1989, one
of their missions was to help bring an end to violence in Northern Ireland.
Along with the AOH and other organizations, they worked to include Sinn Fein in
the political process by keeping Irish issues to the fore of American
consciousness. Their songs about James Connolly, Michael Collins, Bobby Sands
are now standards and used in hundreds of college and high school courses; while
their biggest hit, Funky Céili, has caused hundreds of young ladies to be
christened Kaylee and other derivatives.
With their exciting live shows, Black 47 paved the way for bands like
Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. They have appeared on all the major TV
shows; released ten critically acclaimed CDs and played well over two thousand
shows. They have been profiled by every major national magazine and newspaper.
But more than anything, Black 47 has come to epitomize the newfound confidence
in Irish-America.
Sunday, March 14, 2010 | Doors 5pm | Show 6:30pm |
Downstairs Live
Advance Tickets:
Floor/Loge Standing Room: $21 ($17 ticket + $4 processing
fee)
Floor/Loge Reserved Seating: $21 ($17 ticket + $4 processing
fee)
Mezzanine (Reserved Seating): $31 ($17 + $14 premium service*/processing
fee)
Day of Show Tickets:
Floor/Loge Standing Room: $24 ($20 ticket + $4
processing fee)
Floor/Loge Reserved Seating: $24 ($20 ticket + $4 processing
fee)
Mezzanine (Reserved Seating): $34 ($20 + $14 premium service /
processing fee)
*priority seating and VIP amenities/service
Black 47
Tickets
40 Shades of
Blue
The Irish Rovers at Keswick Theatre
With over 40 years of rovin’, they have captured the hearts of fans
worldwide. Launch your St. Patty’s Day celebration early with the beloved
international ambassadors of Irish music!
Will Millar had been singing in Ireland with his sister since he was 10.
After he arrived in Calgary, Canada he met Les Weinstein, who arranged for him
to appear on television show, and would later manage the group throughout the
group’s career. Will’s younger brother George Millar and his friend Jimmy
Ferguson came out from Toronto for a two-week holiday with Will. They had been
singing as a weekend hobby with Will’s father and sister, and so Will invited
the two young travellers to sing on his TV show. When the holiday was over,
George and Jimmy asked if they could stay on, and so Will enrolled George in a
local high school and got Jimmy a job.
Will then invited his cousin Joe to join the group. Later, the boys became
part of a popular folk club of the time called the Depression, a club that also
kick-started the career of Joni Mitchell.
Will had the idea for the Irish Rovers to relocate to California in the USA,
which at the time was the focus of many folk singers. On the journey there their
car broke down in Northern California, which is when they met some Irish pub
owners and an agent who helped them secure a gig at the popular Purple Onion in
San Francisco. The group subsequently began performing in folk clubs all over
California. Wilcil McDowell joined the band in 1966, around the time the group
was signed by Decca Records, when “The Unicorn” became a global success.
The group is best known for their recording of Shel Silverstein’s “The
Unicorn” (1967) and Irish ditties “The Orange and the Green” / “Whiskey on a
Sunday” (1968). They also hosted several variety TV programs in the 1970s on
Canadian television. Although they recorded many albums after that, they weren’t
as successful commercially as “The Unicorn” until 1980, when the band had a
crossover hit with a cover of Tom Paxton’s “Wasn’t That a Party.” The success of
this, which was performed in a country-rock style rather than the band’s
familiar folk style, led to the band rebranding itself as The Rovers and
changing styles for the remainder of the 1980s, scoring follow-up hits with
songs such as “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy,” “No More Bread and Butter,” and the
Christmas hit “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.” By the 1990s, however, the
band was once again known as the Irish Rovers.
Will Millar left the group in 1995; he subsequently recorded solo works and
also wrote a book entitled Messing Around in Boats. He later did some acting,
including playing postal carrier and boat owner Jimmy McVeigh on the Canadian
comedy program The Red Green Show, and Jimmy, the crusty handyman in the 2005
Canadian slasher film Sleepover Nightmare. Millar, a neighbour and good friend
of writer-director Boon Collins, was also the production designer of the film,
along with his wife, Catherine Millar. The bulk of the film was shot on Millar’s
property and in his home.
Founding member Jimmy Ferguson died in 1997. The remaining members of the
group, augmented by new musicians, continue to tour as the Irish Rovers.
The Irish Rovers
Tickets
Mick McGuire Sit
Down
Movie Monday at The Trocadero featuring Boondock Saints 2: All Saints
Day
For the last 8 years the MacManus Brothers have been living with their father
on a sheep farm deep in isolated Ireland. One day their uncle tells them that
they have been framed for the murder of a Bostonian Catholic priest. The boys
must return to Boston to not only clear their names but find the men who framed
them.
St. Patrick’s Day Party!
Special : Arrive before 7pm, get a FREE beer
& a bag of popcorn
$3 gets you in & goes towards a drink
Boondock Saints
2
The
Trocadero
Belles of Dublin
Belles of Dublin interlaces stories of coming of age and illicit love affairs
gone wrong with traditional Irish music featuring vocals, flute, and Celtic
harp. According to Tim Treanor of DC Theatre Scene, “The stories are carved and
scoured with language like a cascade of diamonds. It is not simply MacIntyre’s
brogue which identifies the pieces as Irish. They radiate the sort of liquid
cynicism which has marked the Irish literary voice from Swift through Frank
McCourt. The protagonist tells her story from the point of view of love, and the
opportunity for love, long past. This could be depressing, but MacIntyre makes
it sound rueful, wistful, and, with surprising frequency, funny. That’s in large
part because she excerpts her content from the writing of the fine, if
underappreciated, Irish writer Edna O’Brien. I do not know what O’Brien would
sound like reading her stories, but if she doesn’t sound like MacIntyre, I bet
she wishes she did.”
Red Room at Society Hill Playhouse
Dates:
March
17-March 21, 2010
Times:
Wednesday-Saturday: 8 pm
Sunday: 3
pm
Tickets: $20 – includes 1 free drink
Tickets
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St. Patrick’s Day: After-Work Tour and Toast at Laurel Hill
Cemetery
Though dead men tell no tales, there are two places that you can learn much
about them: the wake-house and Laurel Hill Cemetery. Join the group at the
latter, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, while honoring the heritage and
accomplishments of the proudest Irish souls, now gone to their final reward.
‘Tis a festive occasion to be enjoyed by the living, for earth has no sorrows
that heaven cannot heal! So, while you await healing, tip your hats, take your
drinks, and expand your minds at Laurel Hill! In the spirit of a unified
Ireland, the program will be led by Jerry McCormick of Six Counties’ descent,
and his counterpart rebel of native birth, Bill Doran. Afterwards, join Laurel
Hill in their historic Gatehouse, where the beer will be plenty and the
‘spirits’ will be merry.
Dates:
March 17, 2010
Times:6 pm
Tickets:
$25/person
Laurel Hill Cemetery
St. Patty’s Day Beer Dinner at World Cafe Live
Lager lover, ale enthusiast, and brewmaster extraordinaire Scott Morrison
hosts a St. Patty’s Day beer dinner at World Cafe Live. Five terrific
American-made craft-brewed Irish-style beers, paired with selections from
Executive Chef Mike Breslin’s own family recipes stretching back generations and
utilizing the techniques taught to him while at study under Master Chefs in
Ireland, will make this dinner feel like a night spent in the heart of the Irish
countryside. Top the day off with a night cap of Bushmills 16 year old Irish
whiskey (be careful – you know what they say: “beer before liquor”…) and
traditional Irish music performed by Trolley Stop. Join us St. Patty’s Day for
this truly one of a kind dinner experience!
St. Patty’s Day Menu
Starters
Soft Pretzels
paired with Sly Fox Seamus Irish Red Ale
1st Course
Tangy Irish Artisanal Cheese Plate with soda bread and assorted
crackers, jams & fruit
paired with Rogue Kells Irish Lager
2nd Course
Smoked Salmon: Irish smoked salmon over chive potato cake,
crème fresh and chive oil
paired with Harpoon Celtic Ale
3rd Course
Corned Beef & Cabbage Sliders on potato rolls with honey
Dijon cream
paired with Great Lakes Conways Irish Ale
4th Course
Victory Donny Brook Stout Stew fortified with root vegetables
& savory bacon
paired with Donnybrook Stout
5th Course
Shamrock Crème Brulee Cake
paired with Bushmills 16 year old
Irish Whiskey
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 | Dinner begins at 7:00pm | Upstairs Live
Tickets: $45.00 each (price includes dinner, beers, tax, gratuity, and live
entertainment)
Tickets
But between Irish pubs like Fergie’s, Tir Na Nog, Downey’s, Moriarty’s, and Fado; and a
whole lot of events listed on Philly Fun
Guide, there are plenty of events worth checking out during St. Patrick’s
Day in Philadelphia.
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Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival March 5th – April 17th 2010
- The Philadelphia Film Society Announces the Philadelphia Film
Festival Spring Preview April 9th-11th 2010
- The 2010 Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention is Coming to
Sheraton the Philadelphia City Center Hotel March 26th-March 28th
Tagged as: All
Saints Day, Belles of Dublin, Black 47,
Boondock Saints 2, Cavanaugh's Restaurant, Downey's,
Erin Express 2010, Fado, Fergie's,
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Theatre, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Moriarty's, Movie
Monday, Philly Fun Guide, Red Room at Society Hill Playhouse, Running of the Micks, Saint Patrick's Church, St.
Paddy's, St. Patrick's Day, St. Patty's Day Beer Dinner, The
Irish Rovers, The Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade, Tir Na
Nog, Trocadero, weekend, World
Cafe Live