Thirteen percent of New York traces its heritage to the Emerald Island, but on St. Paddy’s everyone in the city is Irish for a day. The city’s main event is the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which marches up Fifth Avenue from 44th to 79th Street starting at 11am on Monday. You can watch for free anywhere along the route, although earlier arrivals get closer vantages.
Photo: Joe Buglewicz
This year’s Grand Marshal is Michael A. Benn, a proud son of Limerick and longtime Queens parade leader. Look for floats, dancers, and plenty of bagpipers.
The parade runs until late afternoon, at which point the city’s bars swell with revelers. (Actually, some of the bars get going at breakfast time Saturday morning. McSorley’s Old Ale House in the East Village is a prime example, and it will be completely packed throughout St. Paddy’s weekend. As traditions go, it’s a long one in NYC, with a history that dates back to 1854 and Abraham Lincoln counted among its former patrons.)
The Stone Street Historic District is a car-free cobblestone street filled with restaurants and bars (it’s the city’s first nightlife district, dating back to the 1600s when NYC’s first breweries were here). The city’s largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration will fill outdoor tables with Guinness, green beer, “Shamrock Margaritas,” and traditional Irish food and drink on Monday.
ST. PATRICK’S HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN
JigJam | Thursday, March 13th
Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, East Village
The Sheen Center presents JigJam, one of the world’s best Irish bluegrass bands, for a night of high-energy, foot-stomping sounds.
Rocks Off Concert Cruise | Sunday, March 16th
Skyport Marina, East River
On Sunday afternoon you can get out on the water for a three-hour cruise, complete with epic skyline views and a live tribute band performing music inspired by Irish legends Shane MacGowan and The Pogues.
St. Patrick’s Open Day | Saturday, March 8th
Irish Arts Center, Hell’s Kitchen
In Hell’s Kitchen, the Irish Arts Center sets its programming around the culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. Saturday, March 8th is their annual St. Patrick’s Open Day, a free family-friendly event with traditional music and dance performances, workshops and demos, and children’s crafts and activities.
The StepCrew | Sunday, March 16th
Irish Arts Center, Hell’s Kitchen
On Sunday, champion dancers and fiddlers come together for The StepCrew, a virtuosic journey through three styles of percussive dance—Irish, tap, and Ottawa Valley step dancing.
You can get your Irish on before the parade on Monday with the 1st Annual St Patrick's Day Irish Bricfeasta at Park Ave Kitchen by David Burke's cafe. From 7 to 11am fuel up for a day of shenanigans with Chef Burke's traditional hearty Irish breakfast of bangers, baked beans, scrambled eggs, roasted mushrooms and tomatoes, blood sausage, white pudding, fresh baked Irish soda bread from his Dixie Lee Bakery, and coffee or tea. Priced at just $30 per person, it will be complemented by the availability of a fall bar, including Guinness. Burke's culinary celebration of his Irish heritage will continue during lunch and dinner at Park Ave Kitchen with specials like corned beef & cabbage, shepherd's pie, St. Paddy's Mets and Irish Whiskey Ice Cream—a perfect stop after the parade. For reservations for the 1st Annual St. Patrick's Day Irish Bricfeasta visit parkavekitchenbydb.com or call 646-847-4166.
Image: Keiko Niwa
The Tenement Museum explores the immigrant experience, with a historic building on the Lower East Side that was home to more than 7,000 people from 20 nations. Today you can take tours of rooms dedicated to residents across diverse eras in addition to neighborhood walking tours. To better understand the Irish immigrant experience in New York, check out the daily After the Famine: 1869 tour. You’ll visit a re-creation of the apartment of Joseph and Bridget Moore and learn how music, politics, and religion came together to form a complex Irish-American identity.
BAR CRAWLS
The Hard Rock Cafe is the launch point for The Official Lucky's St Patrick's Day Bar Crawl, on Saturday, March 15th.
On Saturday the 15th or Sunday the 16th (or both!) join the St. Patrick's Day Paddy Hard Bar Crawl for guided tours across multiple venues.
Saturday and Monday the 17th, Drom in the East Village will be the HQ for the Kiss Me, I'm Irish: New York City St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl.
DOWNTOWN MEMORIAL
Ludovic Bertron/Flickr
If you’re around the Battery, stop by the distinctive Irish Hunger Memorial near Brookfield Place. This structure recalls the Great Irish Famine from 1845 to 1852, during which over one million people died of hunger. The walkable memorial recreates a rural Irish landscape with native plants from the north Connacht wetlands and low walls of Kilkenny limestone. Designed by Brian Tolle, the Irish Hunger Memorial not only points to the past but to the pressing realities of world hunger today.
