For some of us there is always the question of what St. Patrick’s Day is for, other than a chance to drink beer and eat corned beef and cabbage. Who really needs to know more than that?
OK, it’s a holiday associated with Ireland, the color green and feasting on Irish fare. But what about the saint himself?
He’s the patron saint of Ireland, lived in the 5th century and is said to have been among the first to spread Christianity among the Irish. March 17 marks the day St. Patrick died. What does that tell us?
It’s a holiday now celebrated around the world, notably in New York City (in the United States) and San Francisco, where the parade down Market Street next week will be the centerpiece of what organizers call “the largest St. Patrick’s Day event west of the Mississippi.”
It’s a lively holiday in Sonoma County too, where the epicenter will begin rumbling in Healdsburg Saturday morning starting at 6 a.m. in the B & B Lounge.
“This is definitely the place,” said Erin Kocsis, a handsome young woman who tends bar at the B & B, an old-school watering hole with a neon martini glass in the window.
Nowadays on St. Patrick’s Day several hundred people gather at the B & B to join the 7 a.m. parade led by bagpipers, the parade queen and Healdsburg Rotarians with their hair dyed bright green.
Expect everything from families to fire trucks and “cool hot rods,” said Erin. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The Healdsburg parade began in the 1990s when some B & B regulars reportedly talked about a St Patrick’s Day parade that hadn’t actually happened except in their imaginations.
The next year people showed up looking for the annual parade. Now look at what they’ve started.
At the B & B they’ll be cooking 300 pounds of corned beef and cabbage for free lunches on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Around the corner at John & Zeke’s Bar their annual St. Paddy’s celebration includes free corned beef served up starting at 4 p.m.
Bars and St. Patrick s Day seem to enjoy a symbiotic relationship.
At Healdsburg’s Spoonbar in the h2hotel on Saturday night you can “Get your green on with Irish Coffees and green drinks,” says the bar’s website.
The Spoonbar’s observance starts at 5 p.m. and includes a guest bartender, Fred Dagnino of San Francisco’s famed Buena Vista Cafe, home of Irish Coffee.
“Being green at h2hotel, we thought it only right to honor Saint Patrick’s Day and all our Irish friends with some special festivities,” says the bar’s online invitation.
Dagnino has served up the Buena Vista’s legendary Irish Coffee for over 43 years “and will be making the famous drink this Saturday night only bringing a little bit of Ireland to Healdsburg,” says the Spoonbar announcement.
“This is such an honor to have Fred with us that the team over at Flying Goat Coffee even developed a special Irish Coffee blend just for our coffee cocktail. And this year we’ve teamed up with the Healdsburg Rotarians (look for those with the green hair) to support their campaign to raise money for polio. We’ll be donating $1 from each cocktail sold to Polio Plus,” the Healdsburg Rotary Club effort to eradicate polio.
St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, which could ramp up the celebration. In Healdsburg there’s also the Spring Sidewalk Sale on Saturday. Whoa!
In the Town of Windsor on St. Patrick’s Day I’d go to Patterson’s Pub on the Windsor Town green, “a little bit of Ireland in wine Country,” where they’ll be serving corned beef and cabbage all day. You can wash it down with a glass of Patterson’s Pale Ale.
The main event in Windsor is over at the Windsor Community Center where the Windsor Lion’s Club and the Windsor Firefighters Association are hosting a corned beef and cabbage feast, all-you-can-eat, plus a no-host bar starting at 4 p.m. (until 8 p.m.) in the Community Center on Adele Drive. Tickets are $15 and “all the proceeds benefit local community projects,” said Lions Club member Stan Buck.
In Sebastopol the singular Aubergine Vintage Emporium and Cafe, where a pub and used clothing emporium co-exist in a vast former apple plant on Petaluma Avenue, they’re throwing a St. Patrick’s party with traditional Irish music by Riggy Rackin starting at 6:30 p.m. followed by the group Tempest.
In Sebastopol on St. Patrick’s Day Jasper O’ Farrell’s pub will offer “food all day long.”
At Sebastopol’s French Garden Restaurant and Bistro on Bodega Avenue the group Greenhouse will play Celtic fusion music.
The Hopmonk Tavern in Sebstopol will celebrate with live music and drink specials.
At the Henweigh Cafe on Highway 116 between Sebastopol and Forestville they’ll be serving corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie and Irish stout stew.
In Guerneville on St. Patrick’s Day eve, Friday March 16, there’s a Russian River Chamber of Commerce dinner fundraiser from 6 to 8: p.m. at Chef Patrick’s Restaurant on Main St. Tickets for the evening, which includes a raffle, auction, limerick contest, are $35 and are available in advance at the River Chamber Visitors Center in Guerneville.
And don’t forget Pat’s, the Main Street Guerneville restaurant and bar, which has been there so long that St. Patrick himself might have been a patron. “Get your St. Patrick’s Day shirt before they sell out,” they’re advising at Pat’s. With St. Paddy’s Day on a Saturday, “This year promises to be a big celebration.”
