In addition to the usual day long family fair and parade downtown on Saturday, this year the Bluegrass Irish Society is presenting a concert of Celtic music Friday night at the Lyric Theater. Chapter president, Megan Maloney.
"We have an incredibly talented local musician by the name of Lucy Becker who is going to join us. She's got her fiddle too. We have a band coming over from Ireland called the Woolly Jumpers. And then Carbon Leaf, which is a band based out of Virginia, they were supposed to play last year. It's a great opportunity to sort of get a start on the weekend. And the Lyric Theater is going to be the site for that. And that's where tickets are available as well."
Doors open at 6 p.m. Music starts at 6 15. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
Then on Saturday, the festival takes over Tandy Plaza and the Fifth Third Pavilion, starting with the annual 'Blessing of the Keg' at 10:45 and the parade through downtown at 1pm.
Festival chair Liza Hendley-Betz:
"Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day. I always like to say you don't have to be Irish to shake a shamrock. So everybody's welcome, but everybody tends to be a little bit more Irish on that day and everyone's super proud and there's a lot going on and it's wonderful."