St. Patty’s Day in Honolulu

It may be as far as you can get from Ireland, but Honolulu is not short on Irish spirit. This Wednesday, downtown Honolulu will dress up in green, chug green beer and party on Nu’uanu Street as part of its St. Patrick’s Day Chinatown Block Party. But if this enormous street party isn’t your style, there are plenty of other trendy spots to choose from to join in the Irish festivities. Here’s a little breakdown of the parties going down on Wednesday, March 17.

DOWNTOWN HONOLULU:

• St. Patrick’s Day Chinatown Block Party: Thousands of people show up for this huge block party, hosted by Murphy’s Bar & Grill [map]. This has been the premiere St. Patty’s Day event in Honolulu for two decades.
• Irish music at O’Toole’s: Across the street from Murphy’s, Kieran Murphy, Celtic Waves, Doolin’ Rakes, MacFiddles, Kaimana Ceili and Warsaw will be playing at O’Toole’s Irish Pub [map] throughout the week.
• Ravenchase St. Patrick’s Race: Treasure seekers search for a pot of gold at the annual Ravenchase St. Patrick’s event in Chinatown (already SOLD OUT!).
• St. Patrick’s Day on the Harbor: Aloha Tower Marketplace [map] rolls out the green for St. Patrick’s Day with Irish music, food and dance.
• Acid Wash: St. Patrick’s Day Edition: SoHo [map] hosts a special St. Patrick’s Day edition of Acid Wash. I’m not really sure what that means — 80′s acid wash music + green garb and beer??

WAIKIKI:

• Waikiki St. Patrick’s Day Parade: The annual parade, organized by the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Hawaii, marches down Kalakaua Avenue [map] at noon.
• RumFire St. Patrick’s Day special: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with custom drinks and a special menu at RumFire [map].

I celebrated St. Patty’s Day at an Irish pub in Nicaragua last year. I have a feeling this year’s festivities in Honolulu will easily top that — not that I have anything against Nica.  Enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day festivities, wherever you are in the world!

Photo courtesy of tibbygirl (Flickr)