From the contemporary chaotic calamity that is Paul’s desk:
At the time of this writing, while the days of March are very nearly behind me, the memories are still there, vibrant as ever. Understandably, a good portion of those revolve around St. Patrick’s day. I’d like to share some of these with you all, and I’d love to hear about your favorite memories from that day as well.
To begin with, the week or two leading up to the event was fast-paced. One of our family members, who also lends help to our support team, came up with some brilliant new art and designs for merch, and we all totally ran with it. I’ll touch on our merch plenty more here in a bit, but many thanks go out to Rob for letting that inspiration flow!
Almost a week prior to the actual day, the community celebrated its 40th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Faire. The various schools showed their dance, the pubs supplied the drink, many bands supplied the music, and the crowd provided such amazing energy! We got to debut some pieces we hadn’t put on stage before, and also got to put out some of the new merch: buttons with our new designs!
When it came to St. Patrick’s Day itself, showing up at Seamus McCaffreys in the freaking morning was a different experience. Mind you, we tend to play mostly at night, so we don’t often get to see the outside of these venues during the daytime. I mean, who knew there was a Bosa’s right across the street where we could grab donuts and breakfast sammies!?
Another great milestone from the Seamus McCaffreys appearance is that since we showed up with our new tshirt designs on-hand, Rob got the thrill of seeing the first tee with his design get purchased and say a personal “Thank You” to the new fan, as well as get a pic with the freshly-donned tee. We even had the surprise of a piper band showing up to play right as our set was ending, so the fans and culture definitely made a strong showing there!
With the first show the day behind us – we did mention it had started in the freaking morning, right? – we proceeded to O’ Connors’ Pub aka The OCP, where the day was already in full swing. The libations were a-plenty, and while all the fans there were awesome, there was a particular group off to one side that formed a small dance circle, and we (especially Erin) were more than happy to oblige.
Our final show of the evening was certainly not one to forget, and that was Fibber Magees. The crowd was well warmed up by the various acts there throughout the day, especially The Langer’s Ball, an amazing duo we’ve had the pleasure of sharing venues with. HItting the stage there felt like one of our best nights ever. Small groups of fans formed circles to dance or mosh about, and there were so, so many requests for old favorites; so many in fact, that we didn’t have enough time to get to them all before we had to shut down the outdoor show.
All in all, it was probably our most amazing and memorable St. Patrick’s Day so far. I’ve probably definitely left out a few details here and there to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent. I’m sure Brian, Erin, and our invaluable Support Team have their own tales to share at some point.
Which brings me to y’all reading this: What are your memories of our shows at the St. Patrick’s Day Faire and/or St. Patrick’s Day proper? We’ve got a Comments section, so let’s use it!