This year, St. Patrick`s Day will suffer a fate all too common to holidays in this country–it`s being moved to a more convenient day. For the most part, St. Patrick`s Day will arrive on the 16th, though some celebrations already are underway.
But the main celebration will be Saturday. Revelers can start with the 9:30 a.m. mass at St. Patrick`s Church, 718 W. Adams St.–perhaps praying for forgiveness for what they are about to do–and still have plenty of time to prepare for the parade, which kicks off at 12:30 p.m. at Wacker Drive and La Salle Street. And then on to the general, widely scattered merrriment. But Sunday, the real St. Patrick`s Day, will be relatively quiet this year.
Surprisingly, the change probably will meet widespread approval, even from the hardcore traditionalists, because the problems with a Sunday St. Pat`s are numerous. Most downtown shops are closed and would lose the shopping business that such large celebrations generate (although many ”shoppers”
simply are hunting for a rest room). Also, Illinois law decrees that liquor cannot be served before noon on Sunday, a restriction that, sad to say, would cramp many celebrants` style.
Most importantly, however, moving the holiday also moves the day after, and the day after St. Pat`s ranks behind only Jan. 1 in terms of the general immobility and ill humor of the public. Moving the Irish day of atonement to a Sunday from a Monday no doubt will save the working world hundreds of lost man-hours.
Still, some will wait until Sunday to do their celebrating, and others will get an early jump on things by celebrating Friday, which brings up another plus: Moving St. Pat`s may make the streets safer by spreading the celebration–and the celebrants–across an entire weekend. There may be as many or more revelers in toto, but the lunatic concentration for any given day should be diminished substantially.
The question is, where to celebrate? Clearly, any bar will do, and any bar with an Irish name will do nicely, provided you enjoy crowds. But crowds can be a comforting thing on holidays of excess such as this, if only because the long lines at the beer keg should help slow down your rate of consumption. If you do like crowds, there should be some dandies out there, and more than a little competition to see which will draw the largest attendance.
For instance, there`s ”Forever Green X,” the 10th annual St. Pat`s bash sponsored by the Young Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago. What started 10 years ago in a member`s basement has grown into a mob scene that will take up four banquet rooms in the Hotel Continental. Each room will have its own band–only one of which will play Irish music, but remember this is the Young Irish Fellowship Club–and, of course, gallons of green beer and suitable accompaniments.
It takes place from 5 to 9 p.m. tonight, but don`t bother going without a ticket. Even though the club printed 4,000 tickets, priced at $12 (members)
and $16 (non-members), they were snapped up quickly. Your chances of getting in without a ticket are nil unless you wield sufficient clout or can convince the ticket-taker that you`re the mayor of Killarney (who, incidentally, is scheduled to appear).
”Forever Green X” may have the early lead, but the Hyatt Regency Chicago could challenge. Its annual post-parade party, held in the hotel`s west tower lobby, typically draws 2,000 or 3,000. This party features continuous entertainment and strolling Irish minstrels and is free, but food and drink aren`t included. A buffet (Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, etc.) costs $6.95; green beer will run you $1.50 and cocktails cost $2.50.
And then there`s Houlihan`s Old Place. The restaurant chain boasts the world`s largest continuous St. Pat`s party (so certified by the Guinness Book of Records), a distinction it garnered last year by declaring an eight-day St. Pat`s festival and signing every customer in every restaurant during that period as a guest. This year, Houlihan`s is trying to break its record; the 1985 festival has been going on since last Monday. Among the inducements offered to potential patrons is an all-expense paid getaway to Ireland (to whoever guesses the number of signatures from last year`s festival) and a visit by the reigning Miss Ireland, who will be at the 1207 N. Dearborn St. location from 4 to 7 p.m. today. So if you want to be a part of history, drop in, though you`d better hope that McDonald`s doesn`t decide to hold a Shamrock Shake festival next year.
The disadvantage to all this variety is that with celebrations taking place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there will be drunken drivers on the roads all weekend. I have no idea how many people read this column, but I`d like to keep them all. So let`s be careful out there.
