The Top 18 Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day 2019 in Seattle
Live Music, Pub Parties, a Parade, and More
Catch the Seattle Firefighters Pipes & Drums at the St. Patrick's Day Parade (Sat March 16) and at various Irish pubs on St. Patrick's Day (Sun March 17). CHRIS PICARD
If you plan on celebrating St. Patrick's Day (Sun March 17) out on the town, you have a ton of options. To help ease your decision-making process, we've rounded up the biggest and best ways to experience the holiday, from the shamrock-themed EDM dance party Lucky to the boozy Ballard bus tour St. Pat's Parade O' Pints, and from the St. Patrick's Day Parade to Irish pub celebrations like Mulleady's. Find them all below, and check out our complete St. Patrick's Day calendar for even more options.
MARCH 12-17
FESTIVALS
St. Patrick's Day Festival 2019
Jig along to Irish music, play trivia, and knock back drink specials (like $5 pints of Harp Lager and Kilkenny Cream Ale) for a whole week in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
Shawn O'Donnell's American Grill & Irish Pub, Fremont
MARCH 13-17
FESTIVALS
Saint Patrick's Day Irish Festival
Due to their location in Post Alley, Kells Irish Restaurant can be a little touristy, but they throw one heck of a St. Patrick's Day party—this year will mark their 36th annual Irish festival. They'll set up a tent outside to make more room for their three live music stages, which will play host to local and Irish bands including STOCIOUS (from Country Antrim and Offaly, Ireland), Buck's Mhad Boys (Country Antrim), the Stout Pounders (Seattle), Servants of the Rich (Seattle), and Liam Gallagher (Belfast/Seattle).
Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub, Downtown
MARCH 15
READINGS & TALKS
The History of Shamrocks
Four-leaf clovers, also known as shamrocks, are said to bring good luck to those who pluck them. But according to Orlando de Lange, a Plant Molecular Biologist at UW, Americans have long mistaken the Oxalis triangularis, an entirely unrelated plant, for shamrocks. In fact, only a small handful have ever been cultivated on a large scale. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, learn about this sham shamrock and "the role of chance in selecting the plants that we eat and grow for pleasure."
Ada's Technical Books, Capitol Hill
MARCH 15-17
MUSIC
Blarney Stone St. Patrick's Day
Kick off St. Patrick's Day with live music by the Popes Nose Irish Band on Friday, and return on Sunday for more live music and classic Irish brunch fare.
Blarney Stone, Downtown
St. Patrick's Day at Murphy's Pub
Do your most festive jigs to live sets from Stark Raving Plaid, Dread Pirate, the Irish Experience, That Irish Guy, and other artists eager to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Murphy's Pub, Wallingford
MARCH 16
COMMUNITY
St. Patrick's Day Parade
Trumpeters will lead a procession of green-clad Seattleites in the Irish and US National Anthems to kick off the 48th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade up Fourth Avenue, ending in Westlake Park. From there, participants are encouraged to hop on the Monorail (for free!) and head to Seattle Center's Irish Festival for closing ceremonies. King County Councilmember Joe McDermott will serve as this year's Grand Marshal.
Fourth Avenue at James Street, Downtown
FOOD & DRINK
Ballard Breweries Present St. Pat's Parade O' Pints
Try specialty beers and travel between Ballard's 11 breweries in the Hale's Ales double-decker bus. Your $5 bus fare supports the Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums.
Populuxe Brewing, Ballard
MUSIC
Lucky 2019
USC Events' annual spring festival, and the biggest shamrock-themed EDM party in Washington, will come to Tacoma for the eighth year of green and gold everything. Break out your glow sticks and prepare for "a Celtic-inspired land where whimsical creatures, boundless providence, and good fortune abode"—or, at least, heavy-hitter headliners like Galantis, Adventure Club, 3LAU, Ganja White Knight, Eptic, and Zeke Beats.
Tacoma Dome
MARCH 16-17
FESTIVALS
Irish Festival
This festival is chock-full of performances, live music ideal for practicing your Irish jigs, short film screenings, genealogy workshops, food, and more. It's part of the Irish Heritage Club's Irish Week, which also includes the Landing of St. Patrick, a genealogy seminar, and other events.
Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center
PARTIES
St. Patrick's Day 2019
Get your Saint Paddy's Day whiskey at the Seattle location of coast-to-coast Irish-themed chain Fadó, where they say they'll be "going all out, all day with the best St. Patrick’s Day party in Seattle." There will be brunch until the late morning and a screening of the annual international rugby union competition Six Nations with games by England, Scotland, France, Ireland, Italy, and Wales, as well as live music all afternoon and night.
Fadó Irish Pub, Downtown
MARCH 17
FOOD & DRINK
Mulleady's Irish Pub St. Patrick's Day 2019
The Irish pub will serve a prix-fixe dinner menu with dishes like Beardsley fish cakes with red pepper aioli and traditional corned beef with rainbow chard and mashers, with a caramelized pear tart and a Cork float (Jameson, Guinness, nitro-brew coffee, and Jameson ice cream) for dessert.
Mulleady's Irish Pub, Magnolia
St. Patrick's Day Brunch
Dine on magically delicious Lucky Charm pancakes, soda bread muffins with Jameson orange honey butter, duck confit on rye with Guinness cheese and fermented cabbage, and more.
Frolik Kitchen + Cocktails, Downtown
St. Patrick's Day at T.S. McHugh's
T.S. McHugh's will have a special St. Patrick's Day menu—including beef and Guinness pie, corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips, and Bailey's Irish cream pie for dessert—Harp Lager and Guinness on tap and a dozen Irish whiskeys at the bar. Plus, come for traditional and lively dance music from Claypipe (featuring harmonica, the Irish drum, accordion, and banjo), and stay for bluegrass from Creeping Time. There will be a cover for the bar, but not the dining rooms.
T.S. McHugh's, Queen Anne
MUSIC
An Evening with the Paperboys
The Paperboys will blend the Mexican folk style Son jarocho with Irish jigs and bluegrass for a truly genre-bending St. Patty's Day musical experience.
Tractor Tavern, Ballard
Paddy's Day 2019 at the Owl N' Thistle
Spend all day and night listening to live Irish music by groups like the Haggis Brothers, Dublin Abbey, the Owl N' Thistle Band, Seattle Firefighters Pipe Band, and Max Hay while you knock back some pints.
Owl N' Thistle Irish Pub, Downtown
Space Owl, Johnny and the Moles, WilloW, Goodtime Hustle
I’m impressed by this lineup. St. Paddy’s is traditionally a big booze-it-up night—and Substation has enough bands on lock to ensure NO ONE who makes it till close will make it to work the following Monday! Headliners Space Owl will be laying down an easy vibin’ Grateful Dead tribute set, but only after swingers Johnny and the Moles, who will hopefully BRING THE TUBA, swing their swangin' and Goodtime Hustle have played their mid-tempo, melodic “folkadelic con-fusion.” Oh, tonight is also “introducing”—like, I think it’s their first show—the band WilloW. Good luck, boozy groovers!!! MIKE NIPPER
Substation, Ballard
St. Patrick's Day at Conor Byrne
Nosh on food from Wich Came First, Bread and Circuses, and Dante's Inferno Dogs while you groove to live music from the Evergreen Irish Dancers, the Jamisons, the Leger Family, and others at this all-night St. Patrick's Day event.
Conor Byrne, Ballard
SPORTS & RECREATION
St. Patrick's Day Dash
For the 35th year, support community-run nonprofits by wearing green on green on green and running in the St. Patrick's Day Dash.
Seattle Center