With Valentine’s Day behind us, and March just around the corner, it’s time to get in gear for one of the most widely-celebrated holidays among college students: St. Patrick’s Day. So c’mon lassies, put on your Irish flag shutter shades, paint a shamrock on your cheek, and take a look at which schools experience the luck of the Irish to its fullest each year!
-
UMass Amherst: Blarney Blowout
A tradition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the “Blarney Blowout” draws a green-clad crowd of thousands to its off-campus apartments for a day-drinking palooza each year. Celebrated the last weekend before UMass students’ spring break, it’s a St. Paddy’s Day shindig/last hoorah morphed into one. In 2015, following an especially out of control 2014 Blarney Blowout, Amherst bars delayed their opening times until the late afternoon, and school officials arranged a free concert to deter students from taking part in the annual antics. For 2016, the university has already banned its dormitory residents from hosting guests during the anticipated Blowout weekend. Alas, it looks like the rest of us will never experience the full-blown Blarney Blowout.
-
Boston Schools: Southie Parade Day
Perhaps Amherst’s St. Paddy’s Day counterpart in the east, roughly 20% of Boston’s metropolitan population are of Irish descent, the highest density in the United States. Most deeply rooted is the neighborhood of South Boston (Southie), whose streets make up the route of the city’s historical St. Patrick’s Day Parade each March. The route begins at Broadway Station and finishes off at Andrew Square, hundreds of thousands spectators celebrating at Southie’s pubs and triple-decker house parties along the way. College students hailing from BC, BU, Northeastern, and everywhere in between are just a quick T ride away from the madness.
And of course, any school whose St. Patrick’s Day festivities are worthy of an I’m Shmacked video are noteable, no explanation needed:
-
West Virginia University
-
University of Colorado Boulder
And if you have any friends at school in NYC, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or Buffalo to name a few, you might wanna consider making a roadie to them. Their cities are known to put on a pretty good parade too…