My first two years in Asheville were all messed up by a little thing called Covid (it’s wild how long ago that all feels, isn’t it?), and so last year, with everything officially opened and maskless for some time, I was excited to experience an Asheville St. Patrick’s Day, one of my very favorite days of the year. For the uninitiated, my name is Pat, my family is super Irish, and my birthday is just two days after St. Patrick’s Day. I was also born and raised just up the valley from Scranton, PA, which annually fights with Savannah for the third-largest St.-Patrick’s-Day-Parade-in-The-Country throne. It’s not just Scranton, either. In my native Northeast, St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal, so with no Covid restrictions and the holiday falling on a Friday (the previous years were Wednesday and Thursday, which does limit the craic), I had high expectations.
Now, it wasn’t a bad St. Patrick’s Day by any means. But, it was lackluster. We ended up going to Olde London Road, just because I knew they would have Guinness on tap, then to Riverside Rhapsody because they advertised an Irish band that ended up being Irish-adjacent. It was a pleasant enough night, but I wanted…more. I wanted shitty green beer. I wanted Irish music. I wanted people dressed in leprechaun tee shirts. I wanted it to be less of well-let’s-do-something-Irish-ish-because-it’s-St.-Pat’s and more THIS IS A ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATION, and I think that’s a problem with me and my expectations more than anything.
Still…I held out hope that this year might be a bit more festive, especially since a friend pointed out that St. Patrick’s Day is very much a daytime holiday, and this year it’s on a Sunday. But I was just doing some research on things to do for St. Pat’s, and well…I think that hope may have been naive, based on the 15+ ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Asheville AVL Today just put out.
I really love Dsslvr, and know their whole thing is emo/gothic cuteness, but a spooky St. Patrick’s Day? I’ll pass.
Or…and Irish chili cook-off? I know Irish food largely sucks…but at least maybe stick with fish and chips and some soda bread?
Someone told me last year how much fun Weaverville is on St. Pat’s, but all I could find is that Leveller brewery has Vietnamese-spiced corn beef—sooner or later Asheville and its surrounding areas are going to have to learn that backpacking through Southeast Asia when you were 21 is not a personality trait (and flirts dangerously with the cultural appropriation many of you claim to abhor).
Maybe I’m just being a St. Patrick’s Day snob. The Whale is advertising Guinness, green beer, and “music” (but also is making it Stone Cold Steve Austin Themed because what in the ever-living fuck?), and the Jack of the Wood Celebration looks like it could be fine, but generally I wish Asheville embraced the craic just a wee bit more. I’ll report back after this weekend.
AshevilleExplorer 