Cleveland Stories, Irish Heart
St. Patrick’s Day in Cleveland isn’t just a date on the calendar. It’s a shared season. It’s family, friends and neighborhood pride. It’s a city that knows how to show up – early, loudly, and with heart.
That’s why I put the call out this year: share your favorite Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day memory; send the photos; share the moment you still laugh about, the one that still makes you tear up, the one that has become family legend.
And you did; you sent snapshots and stories that reminded me, again, why the Cleveland Irish page belongs to all of us. I’m proud to curate it, but I’m even prouder that it exists as a place where our community’s voice can live in print: the big milestones, the small moments, the humor, the grit, the love, and the history we carry forward.
Married Before the Guinness, by Jim Sammon
Two years ago, my wife and I were driving home after a full St. Patrick’s Day – the parade, the Arcade, the whole Cleveland tradition, when my brother casually told us he had gotten “married that morning”… online.
It caught me completely off guard. I hadn’t met his husband, and I didn’t even realize my brother was serious with him. The wedding happened through a Utah site, with my cousin Joe O’Malley serving as the witness, marrying Jay – a Filipino national living in Thailand at the time (my brother had lived there for five or six years earlier in his adult life, and he now lives there again).
We stopped at Cedar-Fairmount for a Guinness to celebrate, because what else do you do with news like that on St. Patrick’s Day? That surprise will always stand out, but what I love most every year is the steady rhythm of tradition: watching the parade with the other Parade Committee members from the hotel and sharing the day with my wife and, when we can, one or all of our three sons. One of the best moments is always the Pipe and Drums in the Arcade around 2:30 p.m., a sound that feels like Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day in its purest form.
In 2023, I had the honor of speaking at the Goodfellows Luncheon before the parade, following in the tradition of my late dad, Marty, who did the same in the early 1980s. In the end, that’s what the parade is really about for me: celebrating Irish heritage and family, and these memories capture both.
Two Party Buses and a Stone Mad Tradition, by Michelle Henderson
I’ve been blessed to spend Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day with the McCoy family since 2012, the year after TJ and I met, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that first one. It was the year it hit 80 degrees, and we rolled in two party buses strong: one for the “adults” and one for the “kids.” We kicked things off at Stone Mad, made our way down to the Flats back when it wasn’t “a thing” again yet, and somehow ended the day at The Harp with a “touch” football game on the field behind the restaurant, right where the on-ramp is now. I’m pretty sure TJ even took out Jon during the game, which has become its own little legend in the story.
Since then, the weather has done what Cleveland weather does, rain, shine, heat, cold, and everything in between, but the McCoys are always there, especially at Stone Mad. If it’s not just one or two, it’s at least a few dozen more members of this family making their way in to start St. Patrick’s Day the same way, every year.
And along the way, our family of four has been lucky to add our own tradition: taking our kids around town to perform with their Irish Dance School, sharing Irish culture and cheer with the city. No matter what else we do that day, we still make it a point to begin at Stone Mad, because some Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day traditions are worth keeping exactly as they are.
Faith, Family, and Friendship, by Linda Walsh
As long as I can remember, my favorite part of St. Patrick’s Day begins with the beautiful Mass at Ss. Robert & William. While the media covers green beer and bars, they often miss that, for many of us, the celebration is quite the opposite.
Then it’s on to the parade with all of our marching units, and the looks on the little ones’ faces are really what it’s all about. It’s a day for spending time with family and friends, and for remembering and missing those who have gone before us.
Love in the Air, by Erin Julian
Getting engaged on the corner of E. 18th & Superior!
New Joy, by Colleen Laffey
When my niece Ceili was born on March 17th!
The Best Parade Never Happened, by Joe Costello
The time they canceled the Parade, so we did a bar crawl to all the closed bars and drank our own beer in front of them. Then walked the parade route.
