THURSDAY, MARCH 10

Irish Night at Seattle University Redhawks Basketball, 7 pm, Key Arena. The Seattle U Men's team battles Portland State U. Reduced price tickets at just $10 - use Code FOSP at Redhawks Basketball.

FRIDAY, MARCH 11

Green Stripe Laying

7 pm, on 4^th Ave from Jefferson to Westlake Park. This is a mini-Parade to mark the route of the St. Patrick's Day Parade down the center of 4th Ave, starting from Jefferson St at 7 pm. A large crowd participates by climbing on board the flat-bed Truck at McRory's at 6:30 pm, and children are very welcome - there is no charge to participate! For more information, call Heather at 206-548-9859 or click on www.irishclub.org.

IRISH FESTIVAL

at the Seattle Center 

Center House,  Saturday and Sunday, March 12-13

Saturday Noon - 6 pm       Sunday 10 am - 6 pm 

Admission to all activities on both days is FREE. The Festival features non-stop Irish music, singing and dancing, booths selling Irish and Celtic products, Irish workshops, lectures, cultural displays, children's contests and activities, Irish Language, Genealogy and History Workshops, Art Exhibits and more. Family-oriented activities include wonderful Irish Musicians along with Champion Irish Stepdancers from around the Pacific Northwest. Events for children include the "Smilingest Irish Eyes Contest" and the "Most Irish-Looking Face Contest", and there's a Children's Activities Center. Contemporary Irish short films will be screened noon-5 pm each day during the Irish Reels Film Festival - see the film schedule.

See the Main Stage schedule of performances and schedule of workshops, the list of Vendor Booths, or for more details, check out the full 16-page Irish Week Program.

SATURDAY, MARCH 12

St Patrick's Day Parade

At 12:20 pm, the Parade Grand Marshals Mike and John McKay, the Honorary Grand Marshal Galway Mayor Michael Crowe, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, and other dignitaries raise the Irish Tricolor in front of the King-County Administration Building at 4th Ave at Jefferson, followed by buglers playing the Irish and US National Anthems. Then at 12:30 pm, the St Patrick's Day Parade starts up 4^th Ave led by the Grand Marshals, the Honorary Grand Marshal, and other dignitaries. The Parade travels north on 4^th Ave to the reviewing stand at Westlake. While all marching groups must pre-register, anybody with an Irish connection (and everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!) is invited to walk in the Parade without any pre-registration. Seniors and others are welcome to ride for free in the  "Seniors Shamrock Shuttle", the Hale's Ale Double-Decker Bus. Parade closing ceremonies are in Center House at the Seattle Center at approx. 2:30 pm. For more details, click on www.irishclub.org.

My Brothers

SATURDAY, MARCH 12,

Irish Reels Film Festival

7 pm, Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave. Now in our thirteenth year we are delighted to bring to you a wonderful collection of refreshing and exciting new works in Irish cinema. From Noon - 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday at the Seattle Center, and a Feature Presentation of My Brothers on Saturday evening at 7 pm at the Frye Art Museum. Purchase tickets ($12) online through Brown Paper Tickets. For film details and full schedule, visit www.irishreels.org. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 13, the 27^th Annual St Patrick's Day Dash

8:30 am from 1^st & Mercer near the Seattle Center. 15,000 runners are expected for this nearly four-mile fun-run, and there's no race-day registration. Remember to move your clocks forward one hour on Saturday night! For details, visit www.stpatsdash.com.

SUNDAY, MARCH 13

Matt Talbot Dinner

THURSDAY, MARCH 17

St. Patrick's Day 

St. Patrick's Day

12 Noon, Plymouth Congregational Church, 6th & University, Seattle. This is a Catholic Mass in a non-Catholic Church, and there is a wonderful symbolism in Catholics and others gathering in a Protestant Church on St. Patrick's Day to pray for peace in Ireland and around the world. Seattle's Auxiliary Bishop Joe Tyson is the main celebrant and the special guest homilist is Belfast-born Rev. Barry Keating, Pastor of Maplewood Presbyterian Church in Edmonds. For details, click on www.irishclub.org. 

Click to hear the Our Father sung in Gaelic at the 2010 Mass

St. Patrick's Day

Irish Seniors' Luncheon

2 pm, F. X. McRory's. A special St. Patrick's Day lunch for Irish Seniors and their spouses or significant others, organized by the Irish Immigrant Support Group. There's a special seniors' menu (Salmon or Corned Beef) at $10 pp. Advance reservations are required - please make reservations to Lorraine at Seniors@irishclub.org.

St. Patrick's Day

Friends of St Patrick Banquet

6 pm, Harbor Club, 801 2nd Ave, Seattle. A black-tie (optional) dinner and dance, this is the 71^st Annual Banquet of the Society of the Friends of St. Patrick in Seattle. The Friends dinner benefits Scholarships at Seattle University School of Law and K-8 Education within the Archdiocese of Seattle through the Fulcrum Foundation.

Tickets are $125 per person and include parking. Call 425-290-7839 for tickets and information, email Friends@irishclub.org or visit www.fosp.org.

For more details on any Irish Week event, email IrishWeek@irishclub.org, or visit WWW.IRISHCLUB.ORG

IRISH WEEK DESIGN - The basic design of Seattle's 2011 Irish Week Button is copied from a scroll that was presented to President John F. Kennedy in Galway on June 29, 1963 when he was made a freeman of the city of Galway. The design has the seal of the city of Galway surrounded by Celtic scroll-work that incorporates figures of a salmon, also a symbol of the Pacific Northwest. We thought the design was particularly appropriate for Seattle in 2011 as we celebrate 25 years of the Seattle Galway Sister City relationship and 50 years since JFK was inaugurated as President. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

If you use Windows 7, you can now download from Microsoft an Ireland theme that comes with beautiful wallpaper photos of Ireland and an Irish/Celtic music sound-scheme. Seattle area Irish musicians, Tom Creegan on Uilleann Pipes and Jan Strolle on Fiddle and Accordion, were involved in creating the sounds in the Microsoft Lab.
  

The Pacific Northwest Irish Dance Championships Feis (Irish dancing competitions)  will be Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6 at the Hilton Seattle Airport Hotel. Admission is free both days.

Saturday, March 12, "Masters of Irish Music" concert in Mount Vernon's Lincoln Theatre. Traditional music featuring the teachingstaff of the Friday Harbor Irish Music Week with some of Ireland's finest traditional musicians, including James Kelly, fiddle; Antoin MacGabhain, fiddle; Marcus Hernon, flute; Randal Bays, fiddle; Johnny Og Connolly, button accordion; Eliot Grasso, uilleann pipes/flute; Davey Mathias, guitar.

Saturday, March 19, 7-10 pm at St Mary's Parish Hall, 611 - 20th Ave S, a Benefit for the Catholic Seamen's Club and its ministry. Come for Irish stew, soda bread, dessert, beer and pop.  Live music featuring Claypipe and Irish dancing with Tara Dance Academy. All included for $18 pp, $9 ages 12-21, free under 12. Lots of raffle prizes! Call (206) 441-4773 for reservations.

Oisín Mac Diarmada and Séamus Begley in Concert in Seattle's Georgetown, Thursday, March 24, 7:30 pm. Admission $15 at the door, cash only. Bring a folding chair. Location: Kyoto Art and Antiques, 5790 Airport Way S, Seattle. Free off-street parking.

Sephira in Concert, Saturday, March 12, 7:30 pm, Shorecrest Performing Arts Center, 206-417-4645. Local Irish step dancing/violin playing sister-act, The Gothard Sisters, will open this high energy show. 

Young Seattle-area musicians are invited to workshops being conducted by Sephira at Dusty Strings in Seattle on March 11 and March 12.

Irish traditional music group Dervish at the Triple Door, 216 Union St, Seattle, Sunday March 13, 7:30 pm.

The University of Montana Irish Studies Program brings the finest exponents of the Irish tradition to Butte and Missoula, Montana this spring.

The 2nd Annual Great West Coast Craic Celtic Rock Experience will be held at Aberdeen's D&R Theater on March 12.

The Cove 2 Clover Celtic Faire in downtown Burien, March 12-13.

For the latest details on Irish and Celtic events and concerts in the Seattle area, visitwww.Hoilands.com