Share this article! Cabbage shipments increased 70% during St. Patrick’s Day week this year, according to WalletHub. About 13 million pints of Guinness will be consumed today worldwide, according to the same report. What does the celebration look like for Irish pubs in Oregon? We asked Gerald McAleese, owner of Kells in Portland; Barbie Walker, … Read more
Cabbage shipments increased 70% during St. Patrick’s Day week this year, according to WalletHub. About 13 million pints of Guinness will be consumed today worldwide, according to the same report.
What does the celebration look like for Irish pubs in Oregon?
We asked Gerald McAleese, owner of Kells in Portland; Barbie Walker, owner of Pint Pot Public House in Eugene; and Megan Kleck, owner of Bend’s Seven Restaurant and Nightclub, to give us the scoop.
Main Event
Kells: The downtown location will host the sixth black-tie event that pits Golden Glove Boxers from Ireland versus USA amateurs.
Pint Pot Public House: Street festival with Irish food, music and vendors.
Seven Restaurant and Nightclub: “I Declare Shenanigans” St Patty’s Day party with dance music, contests, giveaways and Irish food.
Anticipated Revenue
GM: “Pots of gold. It really depends on the weather.”
Attendance
GM: 6,000 people on Thursday; 12,000 to 15,000 people Thursday through Saturday.
BW: The Thursday street party draws roughly 450 people.
MK: Between 300 and 500 people per night, Thursday through Saturday.
Business Growth/Decline
GM: “[St. Patrick’s Day] varies from year to year. When the weather’s good, [business] is good. It also depends on the day of the week it falls on. If it’s on a Wednesday, it’s not going to be as lucrative.”
Venue Fun Facts
GM: Kells sells 2,500 pounds of corned beef every year. “This is the only time of year I eat it. We don’t really eat it in Ireland.”
BW: “There’s a cheeky magical leprechaun door [that nods] to the whimsical spirit of the Irish.”
MK: “We have great food and feed a lot of people, yes, but we also turn over and become a full-blown nightclub with legitimately the best sound and light system in Oregon. Not just Bend, but Oregon. But other than that, everything is very traditional and respectful to Celtic heritage of Irish & Scottish. We just do a lot of music with everything else too. We learned early on to be diverse.”
