When I first moved to the Quad Cities nearly 15 years ago, one of the first things I found out was that there is a large Irish population in this area. And one of the biggest times of the year in this city is St. Patrick's Day.
There are a number of good Irish bars in the city - Murphy's in Rock Island, Mac's Tavern in downtown Davenport, the Irish Garden and The Circle Tap in west Davenport, and Pat McGuire's and Kelly's Irish Pub in northern Davenport just to name a few. They all get packed on St. Patrick's Day, packed to the point that there's too many people and it isn't very fun getting beer spilled on you and the line to the bathroom is 20 minutes long.
Still, that doesn't deter me from going out and having a good time. Last night, Cindy and I went out to Kelly's to see Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls, along with Spatterdash (playing their first gig since the death of their longtime bass player Randy Archer).
Dan Kelly - the brother of Wicked Liz's Bob and Leo Kelly - is the managing partner at Kelly's. They went all out for St. Patrick's Day this year. Dan had a company put up a 60' by 90' foot big top tent in the parking lot in front of the place. When we got there last night it was packed. Leo saw me and said, "Hey, get up here and be our M.C. for the night!" I had no green on at all, but I do have green eyes. Jerry Kelly - ANOTHER Kelly brother - gave an Irish toast, then I introduced the band and that was that.
I talked to Dan about 10:30 and he told me that based on the amount of wrist bands they gave out to people of drinking age during the course of the day, he estimated there were over 8000 people who came through Kelly's on St. Patrick's Day.
But the biggest event is the annual St. Patrick's Day parade - known as "The Grand Parade", which bills itself as the only Bi-State parade in the United States. It's held on the closest Saturday to St. Patrick's Day and it's a big deal around here.
Actually, it's more of a big drunken party than a parade. Thousands of people begin over in Rock Island, then go across the Mississippi River on the Centennial Bridge and then end up in downtown Davenport - conveniently in front of Mac's Tavern and the other bars in the area. But they're usually drinking heavily on the way over. The only problem is that there aren't many bathrooms along the way, so they can't drink TOO much.
There's local Irish clans and organizations that have floats and the like. They throw beads and candy out to the crowds that are lined along the streets. It's one of the few times the cops let people drink right on the street. The annual St. Patrick's Day parade is a big party.
After the parade, the crowd either goes to the downtown bars, or the other Irish bars in the area, and many go over to the big Post Parade Bash at the Col Ballroom just west of Downtown Davenport.
St. Patrick's Day here in the Quad's is a big party and it's watched closely by the local police departments. I was told one time by a cop I work with at a lot of events here in Davenport, Joe Blake, who heads up the traffic enforcement division for the Davenport Police Department that there are more people arrested for drunk driving on St. Patrick's Day than at any other time during the year - even more than New Year's Eve.
Yes, I did drink green beer. And Cindy did drive us home.
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