The651.com

Saint Paul’s biggest holiday is coming up on Wednesday, so bust out your leprechaun garb and meet us downtown! Each St. Patrick’s Day, Saint Paul pulls out all the stops to celebrate Irish culture through, dance, music, performance, parades, and of course, green beer and crazy shenanigans!

Saint Patrick’s Day Parade

The biggest draw every year is the annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, which snakes through the streets of downtown St. Paul spreading luck and good cheer to hoards of merry revelers. Featured in the parade are scores of floats, troupes, organizations and more including the 2010 Miss Shamrock royalty, the St. Paul Police, the City Council, the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band, the Vulcans (yes!), The Saint Paul Saints, the Rollergirls, and scads of proud Irish family clans, musicians, businesses and dance groups. Almost 100 different organizations participate, and each one of them goes all out to create one grand spectacle of Irish pride. (Noon, parade starts at Sibley & 4th and continues on to Rice Park) For more info click HERE.

Landmark Center Irish Celebration

Another big destination on St. Paddy’s Day will be the Landmark Center. The historic atrium and numerous other areas of the building will be alive with traditional Irish dance performances, live music, readings and more. On the main stage see O’Shea Irish Dance and a tribute to Brenda Buckley and Tim ‘Fitz’ Fitgerald and more as well as live tunes from The Eddies, Locklin Road, Tara Hill, and Legacy. Meanwhile, the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium will host an all day lineup of traditional dance from the likes of Green Fire Irish Dancers, Handful of Fun, Mooncoin Ceili dancers, and many more. In addition, the Tea Room will host a more intimate presentation of live music, including harpists and Uillean pipe players. If literatures is more your style, visit the Seminar Room where John Dingley and Will Kenny will be reading from their Irishly inspired works. Have kids? Well, there’s a kid’s stage too! (10am-5pm throughout the Landmark Center) for more info click HERE.

Finnegan’s Leprechaun Pub Crawl

For those of you who plan on imbibing in green beer and Jameson all the live long day whilst wearing a bright green wig, look no further than the Finnegan’s Leprechaun pub crawl. The awesome non-profit beer-maker will host three separate crawls in three different areas of Saint Paul where revelers are likely to converge. Downtown Saint Paul will include stops at Alary’s, The Liffey, McGovern’s and Tom Reid’s. The Upper West 7th crawl will cover J.R. Mac’s, Shamrock’s, Joe & Stans, and Bennetts, while the Grand Avenue contingent will hit up Sweeny’s, Tavern on Grand, Dixie’s, and Billy’s. For $30 each pub crawler receives a FINNEGANS Leprechaun Crawl T-Shirt, party favors, exclusive specials in participating accounts along the route and access to the Pub Party at the final stop including a complementary pint and appetizers. The deadline to sign up for the pub crawl is Sunday the 14th, so click HERE for more details and to sign up!