Celebrating St. Patty’s Day!
Posted March 18, 2016 by Katie Caskey
I am a sucker for any holiday that gives me an excuse to dress up! Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July…all good outfit inspirations. And this week we have another! St. Patty’s Day is the perfect excuse to break out that green t-shirt or scarf, or you could go bold and try mixing some hues for a head-to-toe, Kermit the Frog-inspired look. But you don’t have to limit the green takeover to your own clothing. Our apartment will certainly be decked out in some four-leaf clovers, courtesy of my roommate’s kindergarten-teacher mom. And I plan on doing all my writing with a green pen that day as well.
Moving beyond my own little world, I started thinking about how everyone else might be choosing to celebrate the beloved Irish saint this week. Thanks to the wealth of information that is Google, I was able to find some rather unique ways people out there are celebrating St. Patrick.
Perhaps the most popular tradition originated in Chicago, where they die the river green every year for the week of St. Patty’s. Apparently, once the river is colored (with an environmentally-safe vegetable powder) it can take a week or two for the color to dissipate. Now that’s commitment.
If grand gestures aren’t your celebration style, however, might I suggest you head over to Hot Springs, Arkansas, home of the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade. They also hold the world record for the shortest road, measuring in at only 98 feet, and it is down this road that the bagpipers and Irish Elvis impersonators (don’t ask) process along.
Moving across the globe to Australia, we come to the historical re-enactment held in Brisbane each year. Celebrating the immigrant history of the continent, Aussies gather dressed as people sent to the island to build a new nation.
While all of these festivities sound like they’d be a blast to see, if your budget looks anything like mine, you may be looking for a way to celebrate a bit closer to home. Here in Boston, you can catch the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade that winds through the South End on the Sunday closest to March 17th. Join the over one million people who crowd the streets to join in the fun. Then, check out this site (http://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/st-patricks-day-events.html) for all the scoop on keeping the fun going, with lots of info on where you can get cheap tickets to music events, pub discounts, and even dances. And above all, enjoy celebrating in a city known for its Irish pride!