7 Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day In The Bay Area

Photo Credit: Emma ChiangThe official St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival, which honors Irish history, heritage, and culture, takes place on Saturday, March 17. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., there will be festivities at Civic Center Plaza. The parade starts at 11:30 a.m. at Second and Market Streets. It concludes at Civic Center.

Redford is having a St. Patrick’s Day party from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday. The bar will have themed drink specials like green beer, mini car bombs, and Jameson shots, plus a corned beef and cabbage plate. Green clothing is encouraged.

At The Chapel in the Mission, the entire bar will be transformed into an Irish Pub on Saturday, March 17. The Guinness on tap will be flowing and Zoo Station will be performing a special show—the complete U2 experience.

The Hotel VIA in South Beach is throwing a rooftop day party from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 17. There will be traditional Irish music, festive food and drink, and gorgeous views of the city.

A post shared by Stephanie Perry (@irishbank) on Mar 12, 2017 at 4:06am PDT

Every year, The Irish Bank throws a huge block party in the alley downtown adjacent to the bar. This year’s shenanigans start at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 17. Several different Irish bands will perform including The Watch, The Shams, and The Quiet Man. At 8 p.m., DJ Marc van Brabant will take over and spin dance music.

Salt & Straw, the beloved ice cream shop with locations in Pacific Heights and Hayes Valley, has brought back one of their iconic flavors for the month of March. Pot of Gold and Rainbows is the St. Patrick Day flavor. It begins with hundreds of boxes of cereal being hand-sorted. The whole grain bites are separated from the rainbow marshmallow charms. The grain bites are soaked overnight in cream to capture that bottom-of-the-bowl sweet milk taste and the marshmallow charms are stirred in to finish.

Bouchon Bakery in Yountville is also jumping on the St. Patrick Day sweet treat train. Starting on Monday, the bakery will be offering an assortment of themed pastries. Shamrock shortbread cookies are decked out in green royal icing and gold luster dust and there are stout cupcakes with malt-whipped cream.