St.Patrick escaped imprisonment by Irish raiders and became a slave to Gaelic Ireland. Once he returned to his home, he spent most of his time converting people into the Christian faith, mostly in Northern Ireland.
We celebrate St.Patrick’s Day every year on March 17th to honor the man’s death thousands of years ago.
But why do we celebrate by drinking and eating as much as we can during the Lenten season?
It is the one day during Lent where Christians are allowed to eat anything and drink anything they want without having it count against them in church. So naturally, since Christians are normally the biggest party people in the World, it has become a day to got sloshed and forget about your sorrows.
Since we all know you are not going to head home and study for that big test your dumb ass teacher decided to schedule on March 18th, we wanted to show you a list of all the biggest and baddest celebrations American’s put together.
12. Quad Cities
The Quad Cities St.Patrick’s Day parade is the only parade in the US that travels between two cities. It begins in Rock Island, IL before heading down the road, over the Mississippi River, and into Davenport, Iowa.
People line up along the route but then head into Davenport for the festivities. After spending a day out in the sun watching floats, isn’t it time for something to drink?
11. Tallahassee, FL
At the Northern most point of Florida lies Tallahassee, Florida, a college town where the women are tall and skinny rocking cowboy boots and the shortest jean shorts allowed by law. For the 7th year in a row, the Tallahassee Irish Society hosts one of the most epic St.Patrick’s Day festivals in the United States on March 12th. It lasts the entire day and features bag pipes, stepdancers, and grown ass men in kilts. Did we mention it takes place by a Lake? As if it needed even more reasons for women to show up in green bikini’s.
10. Jackson, MS
The people of Mississippi spend most of their time doing, well, who knows. But to be honest, it cannot be that impressive, right? Wrong!
The Hal Street St.Paddy’s Parade & Festival begins with a pet parade followed closely by a children’s parade and then the final parade where you just might catch enough food to cook cabbage stew all year long. But it is the festival that begins shortly after that brings out all the honey’s. Try not to forget the alcohol, you’re going to need it to keep up with these crazy uptight Mississippi party people looking for a reason to let loose.
9. Maryville, MO
When you hear about the World’s Shortest St.Patrick’s Day parade, the first place you probably think of is Maryville, Missouri, right?
This year marks the 21st time The Palms has put on this short parade. But don’t be fooled by the word short, that is not a reflection of the amount of people that show up. For a parade that is not even 100 feet long, it seems like the city is simply making an excuse to allow everyone to stand on the street and party.
8. San Francisco, CA
Embed from Getty ImagesFor 165 years, San Francisco has been hosting a giant party in downtown, to celebrate St.Patrick’s Day. This year, it happens at the Civic Center area and is expected to bring in thousands of tourists from all over the West Coast.
Expect to see a lot of green shirts and leprechaun hats this year.
7. Cleveland, OH
Isn’t it funny how some of the cities not known for partying are making the list? Cleveland, Ohio is another example of how St.Patrick’s Day is a reason for them to unleash all that pent up anger or aggression they hold onto all year long. Have you seen The Purge? Cleveland celebrates St.Patrick’s Day the same way people are allowed to murder and kill, it is only allowed one day a year.
6. New Orleans, LA
The city that hosts Mardi Gras every year should be higher on the list but it is because of that reason that New Orleans is sitting so low on the list.
Many of the locals are still recovering from Mardi Gras having drank up all their booze and spending all their money. But don’t fool yourself, New Orleans still knows how to have a good time.
The parades alone last for weeks and are located throughout the metro area. A lot of them are independently run but they still use a lot of the same floats you see during Mardi Gras so expect to have a blast.
As far as drinking goes, there isn’t a city in America that can drink New Orleans under a table.
5. Butte, MT
Montana is one of the largest states in America and yet almost no one even lives there. The entire state is home to roughly 1 million people and the St.Patrick’s Day capital of the state, Butte, only has around 33,000 people. Yet they bring it a ton of visitors from surrounding areas and states just to celebrate St.Patrick’s Day. The entire state literally waits all year long for this moment and they don’t disappoint.
4. Boston, MA
Embed from Getty ImagesYou’ve seen The Departed, you know how they speak in Boston. So it should not be a big surprise that the Irish have a pretty strong presence in that area.
As far as parades go, Boston’s St.Patrick’s Day parade is the largest in the country. But, like most others, it is nothing more than a fun time to spend with family and friends before unleashing yourself for the night ahead.
3. Savannah, GA
In Savannah, Georgia they don’t just celebrate St.Patrick’s Day on March 17th, they celebrate it all month long.
From the 1st of the month until the real St.Paddy’s Day, the city of Savannah becomes a mecca for any college kid nearby. It is well withing traveling distance for several of the biggest campuses on the East Coast so it naturally has an influx of people just looking to have a good time.
2. New York City, NY
Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The biggest city in the United States is also one of the best for throwing celebrations on special holidays like St.Patrick’s Day.
As far as size goes, this is the biggest. The only reason it doesn’t make the top of the list is because they tend not to have the same amount of festivals or parades as the next city does.
1. Chicago, IL
After hearing about all the other festivals and parades going down around the US, you probably can’t believe that there is a city that can be considered the greatest of them all for celebrating St.Patrick’s Day. But there is, and it is in Chicago, IL.
The parades begin on the 12th and continue through the 13th covering two sides of the city. They have marathons, parades, festivals, and they even dye the Chicago river green, just for the hell of it.
If you happen to be in Chicago that weekend, you will not be able to miss the party. You will literally have to stay inside if you want to avoid it.