St. Patrick’s Day: Why, Where to Celebrate

St. Patrick’s Day is the one day of the year when nearly everyone you meet – even those who aren’t Irish — is celebrating with green beer, shamrock shakes, and corned beef and cabbage.

But why?

Let’s begin at the beginning. For a quick tutorial, we turned to Encyclopedia Britannica as a trusted source.

Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain in the late fourth century, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but returned about 432 to convert the Irish to Christianity.

By the time of his death on March 17, 461, he had established monasteries, churches, and schools. Many legends grew up around him—for example, that he drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Ireland came to celebrate his day with religious services and feasts.

It was immigrants, particularly to the United States, who transformed St. Patrick’s Day into a largely secular holiday of revelry and celebration of all things Irish. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants, who often wielded political power, staged the most extensive celebrations, which included elaborate parades. Boston held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1737, followed by New York City in 1762.

Since 1962 Chicago has colored its river green to mark the holiday. Irish and non-Irish alike commonly participate in the “wearing of the green”—sporting an item of green clothing or a shamrock, the Irish national plant, on the lapel.

To celebrate the day, we’ve selected a couple of our favorite places to celebrate.

Palm Canyon Roadhouse, 535 South Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. The popular bar and grill will host its 13th Annual St. Patty’s Day Bash with food, booze and music. The Roadhouse will serve traditional Irish fare for the day, including corned Beef & Cabbage, Guinness Irish Stew, Potato Leek Soup and not-so-traditional Irish Tacos, Irish Nachos, green beer, Irish whiskey and more.

Live entertainment starts at 5 p.m. with That Eighties Band.

For more information, call 760.327.4080

Another of our go-to places for St. Patrick’s Day is Vicky’s of Santa Fe in Indian Wells

You can celebrate with some Irish cheer and traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. The bar opens at 4:30 p.m. Reservations are taken in the dining room from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The John McCormick Band will provide music in the lounge from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.