San Diego is home to the largest St. Patrick’s Day street party on the West Coast say organizers of the 19th annual ShamROCK Festival, which rolls out the green in a big way Saturday, March 15 from 4 p.m. to midnight in the Gaslamp Quarter.
According to a statement from event organizers, the 2014 ShamROCK Festival, presented by Jameson and The Field, will take place on “the most sacred party day of the year,” St. Patrick’s Day.
“We are pulling out all the stops for this year’s celebration as we recreate a 150-foot Irish pub on the streets of the Gaslamp; turn the streets green with more than 80,000 square feet of green Astroturf; and with a lighting extravaganza, transform the Gaslamp Quarter into an urban, super-chic version of the rolling hills of Ireland,” said one event organizer.
As if that weren’t enough, St. Patrick’s is also a day when San Diego sees one of its largest annual parades. With more than 120 entries, San Diego’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is comparable to this city’s other “gi-normous” procession: the annual LGBT Pride Parade.
“Our special feature this year will be CALFIRE’s honor guard, plus pipes and drums which will be leading the Fire Department of New York’s Ladder 152 fire truck that fought the fight at the World Trade Center on 9/11 in New York City,” said Claudia Jack, board chair of the Irish Congress of Southern California (ICSC).
The inclusion of the 9/11 fire engine is apropos of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade theme: “Celebrating People in Public Service.”
Although the Gaslamp is home to the ShamROCK Festival and even though ICSC’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade barely brushes against the boundaries of Hillcrest with its route from Laurel Street along Fifth and Sixth Avenues proceeding between Juniper and Upas Streets; one would be sorely mistaken to think that Hillcrest, the historic center of San Diego’s LGBT community, won’t also partake in the “Irish-for-a-day” festivities.
“We do green beer; everyone dresses in green and we just have a really good time,” said Urban Mo’s bartender Tim Clark, who, as it happens, is Irish-American.
“St. Patrick’s Day is really a drinking holiday; so everyone wants to be Irish and try to keep up. Mo’s is the place to be on St. Paddy’s Day.”
Up and down University, Fourth and Fifth Avenues – not to mention Richmond, Vermont and Robinson Streets – gay bars, lesbian lounges, LGBT coffee houses, restaurants and other community-allied businesses will be swimming in green beer, slinging corned beef and cabbage and otherwise representing the Irish way throughout Hillcrest and beyond on the big green day.
Meanwhile, around the corner from Urban Mo’s at #1 Fifth Avenue, a customer who only wanted to give his first name said that being of Irish and English descent, drinking green beer (and drinking in general) is par for the course on St. Patrick’s Day.
“I’m going to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but I won’t be going to the parade and I don’t like to wear green,” Jerry told San Diego LGBT Weekly. “To me St. Patrick’s Day is about finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But, I’ve stopped looking (laughs).”
#1 Fifth Avenue will be serving $3 beer in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
Back on University Avenue, a hop, skip and an Irish jig from Urban Mo’s at Fiesta Cantina, a decidedly fun-loving and boy-crazy bartender named Josh Montoya (let’s call him Josh McMontoya for the purposes of this article) says his employer’s bar is the place to be St. Patrick’s Day.
“What I want to say is not what I want printed in your article,” says (Mc)Montoya. “Basically, we’re talking about Fiesta Cantina, which means cute boys, parties and random hookups – I don’t know. That’s St. Patrick’s Day: Just get drunk, find someone cute and go home. Fiesta Cantina on St. Patrick’s Day and every other day is all about cheap drinks, cute boys and having fun with good people.”
On the national stage, it’s significant to note that this year, newly elected New York mayor, Bill DeBlasio will not march in that city’s traditional St. Patrick’s Day Parade because of organizers’ ongoing refusal to allow an LGBT contingent to march among other parade entrants. Rather, the mayor will march in an all-inclusive alternative St. Patrick’s Day Parade to show his support of New York City’s and the nation’s lesbian, gay, bi and transgender community.
Just how did this holiday, recognized as a holy day by not only the Anglican Communion, but also by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches to honor St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, get to be such a drinking holiday?
According to many historians, the answer is twofold: St. Patrick’s Day, which is officially March 17, is a one-day break from the restrictions of Lent. The thinking is that it is just human nature to gorge and thoroughly imbibe during a 24-hour respite from an extended period of abstinence.
Add to that the basic pagan propensity for indulgence that predates the advent of Ireland’s entry into the realm of Christendom and the fact that this time of year coincidentally (or, more likely, not so coincidentally) was also historically a time of celebration for Celtic pagans, and you have a potent combination of cultural confluences that equate to the old Irish sayings, “Yerra sure, t’will be grand out” and “What harm? It’ll be fine!”
Tickets for the ShamROCK Festival are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. Organizers say the event has sold out all of the past three years. All proceeds benefit the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation. Visit sandiegoshamrock.com for more information.
