Maybe you’re Irish, maybe not. Maybe you just want to put on something green and celebrate. There are plenty of opportunities to be as Irish as you’d like around Verona, and around the state, over the next few days.
The West Orange Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, which is the biggest shindig in our area, is Sunday, March 13. The parade kicks off from West Orange town hall at 66 Main Street at 12:15 p.m. and all the details are here. Kearney’s parade is also that day at 2 p.m. and the parade start is S. 3rd Street at Harrison Avenue. The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in Newark is Friday, March 18 at 1 p.m., and it starts at the Prudential Center.
If you’d rather listen than march, there’s plenty of music around, starting with Verona’s own Eamonn Ryan. His band will once again be performing at Grasshopper Too in Wayne. You can catch them on Sunday, March 13 from 4 to 8 p.m. and virtually all day on Saint Patrick’s Day, when the Eamonn Ryan Show Band will be on from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. There will be plenty of Irish food on the menu there, as there will be at O’Neil’s Pub and Jack’s Cafe back in Verona on the 17th. At Main Street Cottage, owner Debbie Curran Galife will once again be giving out samples of her home-made Irish soda bread.
There’s a lot more entertainment around the state. On Friday, March 11 at 8 p.m. the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown is hosting “Celtic Fire”, an Irish song and dance show put on by Irish recording artist Michael Londra. Tickets range from $32 to $52 and you can get more information here.
We took a day trip last summer to Allaire Village, a restored 19th century iron works in central Jersey. But on March 11 and 12, the village will ring with the sound of Three Pints Shy, a folk music group that will be playing Irish pub tunes. Tickets are $15 and there’s more information here.
The Chieftains will be performing at NJPAC in Newark on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. and there are still some tickets available. Tickets range from $23 to $92, and you can start your search for a seat here. If you can’t make that show, the Chieftains are at the McCarter Theater in Princeton on March 15.
Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance troupe has only one performance in New Jersey, on Saint Patrick’s Day at the War Memorial Theater in Trenton. Tickets range from $25 to $65, and there’s more information here. There’s also a 3D movie of the show that will be opening at several New Jersey theaters on March 17.
Back in Morristown on the 18th, you can hear Lissa Schneckenburger, a New England native influenced by Celtic music, at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship Hall. There’s more information on the concert here.
And finally, you can simply get in the Saint Patrick’s Day spirit by watching this video of Verona’s Maya Fortgang and Natalie Nasti, showing off what they have been learning at the DeNogla Irish Dance School.
