All Hail The Saint Of Drinking

If you don't believe St. Patrick's Day is the greatest holiday of the year, consider the competition. First, there's Halloween. Would you rather spend days on a clever costume or find a clean green shirt? Winner: St. Paddy's Day. Then there's Thanksgiving. What would you rather gorge yourself on: Mom's dried-out turkey or Guinness? That's what I thought. Finally, let's compare it to the biggest holiday of them all. The Western world's entire system of commerce revolves around the celebration of Christ's birth and/or the Winter Solstice. Which is precisely why Christmas is so little fun for anyone over age 12. You'll never hear economic analysts fret over lower-than-expected sales figures six weeks before St. Patrick's Day--well, in any other year at least. Fortunately, Dallas celebrates this day of Irish pride right, with all-day public drunkenness, lax open-container-law enforcement and the occasional glimpse of flesh in exchange for green beads. The highlight is the Greenville Avenue Parade, which this Saturday heads south from Park Lane to Yale Boulevard from 11 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. After the parade, The Old 97's, Eleven Hundred Springs, The Drams and The O's will country-rock the shit off your kicks from 2 to 7 p.m. at Energy Square, located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and University Boulevard. The parade is free, but tickets to the 21-and-up-only after-party are $12. Visit frontgatetickets.com.
Sat., March 14, 2009