St. Patrick’s Day celebrations starts today at O’Toole’s with an Irish Wake

So it begins.

March 16, 2016; 11:00 AM • by Richard Hayes

Consider tonight a warm up for tomorrow’s activities at our local Irish pub. Starting at 4 PM the Irish Wake will begin. There will be music from The Donny Brother, 19th Street Band, Greater Richmond Pipes and Drums the notorious/traditional coffin, green beers (don’t drink this get a nice creamy Guinness instead), corned beef and more.

This is what Greater Richmond Pipes & Drums Facebook has to say about the tradition:

The Irish traditionally held a wake the day before St. Patrick’s Day in defiance. At one point the protestant British had banned the celebration of all Catholic holidays, including St. Patrick’s Day. So, in response, the Irish would hold a “wake” for a make believe dead person the day before in order to get away with having a St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

The festivities really kick-off on Thursday though with more of the same but much, much more.

My recommendation is to grab a seat at the bar around 11 AM when it starts and sit back with a Guinness, listen to The Donny Broooks, 19th Street Band, Greater Richmond Pipes and Drums, The Press Gang, and Pugsy Mahone. As the day turns to night you’ll see more neighbors than you can count and hear tales both absurd and tragic. If you have an aversion to crowds run away, run far away but if want to see a true St. Patrick’s Day celebration and not a horde of youngsters drinking on the street this is the place to go.