St. Patrick’s Day falling on a Sunday gave folks an excuse to celebrate all things Irish all weekend in Grand Rapids, with Saturday’s revelry filling downtown streets and pubs. Check out the photos and video.
Celtic Party: CrossBow was part of the entertainment lineup at Irish on Ionia Saturday. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
If thousands of green-hued partyers swilling green beer and dancing to jigs in chilly temperatures outdoors wasn’t your cup of Guinness on Saturday, then soaking up the brews, live music and milieu of an Irish pub made for a cozy Celtic alternative in more than one Grand Rapids location.
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Sunday might officially mark St. Patrick’s Day on the calendar, but St. Patrick’s Eve proved to be a banner day for the day-long Irish on Ionia, which drew thousands of revelers (as always) to Ionia Avenue and surrounding downtown streets for beer, games, DJs, dancing and, yes, live music from CrossBow, Stone Soup & The Broken Teeth, Wakefire and Paddy’s Cure.
At Flanagan’s: Peat in the Creel (Photo/John Sinkevics)
The chilly temperatures were about 20 degrees cooler than 2018’s edition of Irish on Ionia, but overcast skies gave way to sunshine late in the day when many enthused festival-goers were still packing the Jig Tent for crowd-pumping DJ sets and more, while other party-weary celebrants ambled out of the gates.
Elsewhere, Irish eyes were smiling — and dancing — at Flanagan’s Irish Pub, where Peat in the Creel and other performers supplied the robust Celtic strains, at One Trick Pony, which featured the annual return of The Willeys as well as The B-Side Growlers, and of course, at Quinn & Tuite’s Irish Pub, which was jam-packed for performances by the likes of Conklin Ceili Band, Colin Tobin, Brendan Loughrey and bagpipers.
Check out the photo gallery and video highlights below.
And if you haven’t had your St. Paddy’s Day fill, all three of those venues — Flanagan’s, Quinn & Tuite’s and One Trick — feature more live music on Sunday, with many other venues, from Grand Rapids to Fennville offering up Celtic-propelled entertainment. See a complete roster in The Big List Concert Guide.
PHOTO GALLERY: Irish On Ionia
Photos by Anthony Norkus and Kendra Petersen-Kamp
Irish on Ionia, Flanagan’s Irish Pub, One Trick Pony, Quinn & Tuite’s Irish Pub
Video by John Sinkevics
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