St. Paul to celebrate St. Patrick's Day two days early
(AP) - The green beer will flow a little earlier this year as many of the city's Irish celebrate St. Patrick's Day on March 15, because the typical date of March 17 conflicts with the Holy Week runup to Easter.
The last time the two conflicted was in 1940, when St. Patrick's Day landed on Palm Sunday.
Because of the overlap, liturgical rules dictate that no Mass in honor of the saint can be celebrated on Monday, March 17, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Some Roman Catholic leaders went further and asked that parades and other festivities be kept out of Holy Week, too.
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"Nothing can ever impinge on Holy Week," said Dennis McGrath, director of communications for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. "Holy Week is inviolate."
The St. Patrick's Association, which puts on the parade in St. Paul, moved its events to Saturday, March 15. When the shift was made known to some event organizers last fall, it rattled a few who'd already scheduled Irish events months earlier for the 17th.
"It blew us all away," said Lisa Conway, president of the Irish Music and Dance Association.
Conway said she had to reschedule her association's two-day Landmark Center festival around Saturday because the event gets a lot of its business from people coming from the St. Patrick's Day parade.
Some bands and bagpipers couldn't make the switch. And the cost of a weekend festival run as much as 30 percent higher than an event during the week, she said. Despite that, she said, "I'm happy with it."
She expects about 7,000 visitors, perhaps double what she could expect on a weekday.
The Brian Boru Pipe Band of St. Paul will miss St. Paul's parade for the first time in 41 years because it booked an Iowa gig for March 15 before it knew about the switch.
Many bars plan to celebrate St. Patrick's Day on both March 15 and March 17, although they don't expect to do double the business.
Pub managers say the devout will show up Saturday. Die-hard traditionalists will show up Monday.
"And the party animals will show up both days," said Pat Boemer, owner of Patrick McGovern's Pub in St. Paul.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)