Photo: Courtesy of Events International
For the first time in seven years, one of downtown’s biggest block parties is returning. The St. Patrick’s Day Street Festival, an annual Nu’uanu Avenue tradition that lasted more than 30 years until the pandemic, returns Tuesday, March 17 to a new location on Fort Street Mall.
Apart from the change of venue, other traditions will remain intact. “Honestly, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s back and it’s going to be similar,” says organizer Rich Schneider of Events International. “There will be lots of Irish food: corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips and other foods. We’re trying to get oysters. We want everyone to come and bring the green.”
Photo: Courtesy of Events International
Also at the 4-10 p.m. festival, which will run between King and Hotel streets, there will be “a lot of Guinness and Jamesons, and we’ll be mixing black and tan,” says Schneider. “Celtic Pipes & Drums will be going through the mall. We’ve got a bunch of Irish rock bands on one stage, and the second stage will have bands playing Irish-inflected music.”
Photo: Courtesy of Events International
Other Irish rock groups in the lineup are 7 Pairs of Iron Shoes and Peter Bond and the Whatevers. New this year will be what Schneider calls a dining room: a section of Pickles at Forte, the pickleball facility in what used to be Walmart, where people can buy food, sit, eat and listen to live bands.
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At its height in Nu’uanu, outside Murphy’s Bar & Grill, the event drew 8,000 to 10,000 revelers. For years until 2019, Murphy’s owner Don Murphy hosted the St. Patrick’s Day Block Party. Two years ago, Schneider was approached about bringing it back to Events International, which launched the festival in the 1980s, Schneider says. And when the Fort Street Mall Business Improvement District Association asked to host the event to help revitalize the neighborhood, that sealed it: No streets were to be closed to traffic, and the new rules allow alcohol sales.
“I think these guys are going to do a great job. All those years of block parties were enough for me,” says Murphy. “In those days, in the parking lot [on Marin Street in front of Murphy’s]we sold 3,000 pounds of corned beef that day. And we had an oyster bar, it was fabulous. She was very proud of it.
“It was a lot of fun. We had a ball. But I’m 76, so that’s enough.”
Murphy’s will be open on St. Patrick’s Day, though it won’t be participating in the block party. Nor will it be as usual: the menu will be reduced to beef and cabbage, Guinness-style lamb shank, Gaelic steak and Caesar salad with salmon; desserts will be Irish whiskey cake, shortbread and key lime pie.
With the restaurant understaffed, this is all just for dinner on St. Patrick’s Day. There will be food to take away on the other days and special hours.
Meanwhile, Schneider expects a turnout of up to 4,000 next Tuesday. “This is our first of its kind, and it’s kind of a shake-up to see what works and what doesn’t,” he says. “It doesn’t hurt that it’s a legacy that a lot of people want to bring back.”
St. Patrick’s Day street festival on Carrer Fort
When: Tuesday, March 17, from 4 to 10 p.m
Where: Fort Street Mall between King and Hotel streets
Entry: free of charge
Information: @eventsinternational
Mari Taketa is editor of Frolic Hawai’i and dining editor of HONOLULU Magazine.
