St. Patrick’s Day is next Tuesday, March 17, although the celebration starts this weekend, as restaurants roll out the corned beef and cabbage, Irish bands take the stage at local pubs, and little plastic leprechaun hats can be spotted up and down State Street.
Here’s how to celebrate the holiday in Madison whether you want to have fun with the kids, or you’re out with the grownups. Sláinte!
Great Irish Food
Billed as a “Local Wisconsin Take on St. Patrick’s Day,” this Middleton restaurant and bottle shop is offering a special menu March 14-17, featuring a corned beef sandwich with Fox Heritage Farms beef brisket, bangers and mash with the “bangers” also from Fox Heritage, and pints of dry Irish stout from McFleshman’s Brewing Company in Appleton.
This Verona restaurant has a St. Patrick’s Day menu that includes corned beef burnt ends mac ‘n’ cheese, vegan “cock”-a-leekle soup, and Irish pizza featuring corned beef, pickled cabbage and “something green.”
Chef Patrick O’Halloran has prepared a special five-course menu for St. Patrick’s Day, promising time-honored Irish dishes revisited with Deliciouser’s signature spice blends. Guinness and whiskey will be flowing.
This gastropub on the Capitol Square is always a fave for St. Patrick’s Day. From March 14-17, you get to enjoy a full Irish-themed menu that includes a Sconnie Egg for starters, corned beef and cabbage and cottage pie for an entire, and a wedge of Guinness chocolate cake for dessert.
Fun Irish Activities
Madison’s Shamrock Shuffle on March 14 is a benefit for the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. Start time for the 5K (run and walk) and 10K races is 10 a.m. in the 600 block of State Street, so come dressed in green and get ready to sweat for a good cause.
Head to the Capitol Square on Sunday for an afternoon of fun, starting with the raising of the Irish flag in the Capitol Rotunda by the Dane County Shamrock Club at noon. After a short program that includes Irish step dancing and music, head outside for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade around the Square starting at 1:30 p.m.
How much green beer can you take? On March 14, hop from bar to bar downtown starting at the Red Rock Saloon, enjoying drink specials and fellowship along the way.
Rockin’ Irish Music
It just wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day in Madison without the local Irish rock band’s annual High Noon Saloon extravaganza. Party to a mix of original songs and Irish classics, and raise a toast with a glass of Tyranena Brewery’s The Kissers Monday Night Special Oatmeal Double Stout.
Two of Madison’s top traditional Irish bands join forces for a March 13 double bill at The Bur Oak.
Lone Girl Brewing in Waunakee is hosting this Irish trio on March 15, and hoping the weather will be nice enough that they can play outside on the rooftop. (I think that will take more than the luck of the Irish to happen.)
The bar on Atwood Avenue is going all-out for St. Paddy’s Day, with The Currach on March 14, O’Darby Irish Pub Band on March 15, and a St. Patrick’s themed edition of the Madison Bluegrass Roundabout on March 17. Corned beef and cabbage are on the menu all three days.
