{"id":175494,"date":"2026-03-02T21:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/175494\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T21:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:28:10","slug":"green-days-ahead-paddy-fest-is-march-13-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/175494\/","title":{"rendered":"Green days ahead: Paddy Fest is March 13-15"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Boland<\/p>\n

As St. Patrick\u2019s Day 2026 looms on the not-too-distant horizon, Pete Boland is reflecting on Paddy Fest, the all-Irish celebration in Williams Park he began four spring seasons ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost a ton of money the first year,\u201d says Boland, the owner\/operator of Mary Margaret\u2019s Olde Irish Tavern downtown. \u201cAlmost 10,000 people showed up, and we lost money. Because I didn\u2019t know what I was doing yet. But there was no doubt we had something there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four years in, Boland and his team know very much what they\u2019re doing. And Paddy Fest (March 13-15) is the city\u2019s premier Irish festival, with a full slate of live entertainment, a pulsating vendor\u2019s market, food trucks and a 7,500 square foot children\u2019s play area.<\/p>\n

Yes, there are pints to be had, but Boland never wanted his weekend to be just about beer, green or otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is truly a passion for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI love throwing a good party. I love downtown St. Pete, and I believe in the future and prosperity of the park. And I am an incredibly proud Irish American.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paddy Fest also helps fund Ocean Aid 360, which creates community-inclusive design, implementation and monitoring of marine habitat restoration programs. \u201cI love the work that they\u2019re doing,\u201d Boland adds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfe Tones perform Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15. Publicity photo.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an emphasis this year on more \u2013 and better \u2013 authentic Irish entertainment. Performers include the Byrne Brothers (an Irish family band\u00a0from Donegal now based in Orlando); the South Carolina Celtic band Seven Nations; veteran Irish bandleader Derek Warfield and his Young Wolfe Tones; the Bawdy Boys; St. Pete Irish Dance; City of Dunedin Pipe Band; Suncoast United Pipes and Drums and many more.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we\u2019d figured out the sort of program we wanted for the event, but we didn\u2019t have the right entertainment,\u201d says Boland. \u201cI wanted it to be a little step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Boland, a longtime entrepreneur (he also owns The Galley: A St. Pete Tavern) had experience with organizing an executing block parties. \u201cSt. Pete deserves a proper St. Patrick\u2019s Day festival,\u201d he remembers thinking. \u201cI think that we can do it. Maybe one day we can get a parade, but this will have to be a key first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday, March 17 (the actual St. Patrick\u2019s Day) brings a block party to 3rd Street N., in front of Mary Margaret\u2019s, in partnership with the City of St. Petersburg (the street will be temporarily closed).<\/p>\n

Boland sees the \u201cShamrock the Block Party\u201d as a natural extension of Paddy Fest, which is the big shillelagh. \u201cI\u2019d say I have become a festival organizer now,\u201d Boland concludes. \u201cI kind of look at it as a responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just kind of leaned in on trying to become really, really good at this thing. And I\u2019ve learned so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit the Paddy Fest website<\/a> for admission prices, schedules, VIP packages and more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boland As St. Patrick\u2019s Day 2026 looms on the not-too-distant horizon, Pete Boland is reflecting on Paddy Fest,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-175494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}