The Idea Specialists® at The Retreat at Mountain Brook may have had a little help from their favorite leprechaun to find out what’s happening this St. Patrick’s Day in Birmingham, AL.
Their advice? Get ready to eat, drink, and be green as you enjoy the shamrocks and shenanigans of this year’s St. Patrick’s Celebration in Birmingham, Alabama, with your Retreat at Mountain Brook friends!
Organized by the Five Points South Alliance and Birmingham Irish Cultural Society, this year’s festivities will commence with the 10th annual Irish Flag Raising Thursday, March 14, 2024, at 5 p.m. at the flagpole in front of the Five Points Chik-fil-A—you won’t want to miss the Irish blessing!
Then the fun will literally take to the streets with the city’s 40th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade Saturday, March 16. What began as a small gathering of Irish immigrants has grown into one of the largest of the holiday’s parades in the South. This year’s march, led by the Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band, will start at 1:30 p.m. on 10th Avenue South along Brother Bryan Park, then turn left and travel up 20th Street South.
Get Ready To Be Seen In Green
Both you and your four-legged companions will want to be seen in green as you make the scene, whether at the parade or actually on St. Patrick’s Day Sunday, March 17, when participating Five Points South restaurants and bars will offer Irish-themed food and drink specials, along with live entertainment.
And why the green? Well, begosh and begorrah, it’s because Ireland is the Emerald Isle, of course!
The Retreat at Mountain Brook, located just minutes away from the heart of the Magic City, is a very pet-friendly upscale apartment community, so of course our Idea Specialists™ couldn’t resist the idea of finding a cute green holiday costume for your very good doggo—a headband and bowtie combo!
If you want something fun for yourself, but don’t want to break the bank, check out this fun shamrock dress that you can layer with tights and a jacket or sweater, depending on the unpredictable March weather, or this green short-sleeved button-down shirt with companion clover pattern.
Shamrock Shindig 2024
One other wee bit o’ fun for the weekend will be the Shamrock Shindig—food, drinks, photo booth, live music, and a balloon drop with prizes! Even better, the Friday, March 15, event at B&A Warehouse is for a great cause. All proceeds will go to support The Arc of Central Alabama, Alabama’s largest provider of services for people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Here’s To The History Of The Holiday—Sláinte!!
St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the death of Ireland’s fifth-century patron saint. According to folklore, he introduced Christianity to the Irish—and banished snakes from the island! Another well-known legend is that he explained the religious Holy Trinity of Father, Son, & Holy Spirit using the three leaves of a shamrock, native Irish clover.
“Paddy’s Day,” as it’s known across the pond, began as and still is a holiday during the Lenten season, but it’s not the same as it used to be. Beer company campaigns transformed it from a church-going holiday to a pint-raising one in the 1980s. If you want to join with other pubgoers in saying cheers to that in Gaelic, here’s where you can listen to a native speaker pronounce Sláinte! (Cheat Sheet: It’s a two-syllable word, first syllable “lawn” and second “cha”—for slawn-cha!)
