4 Ways to Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day in Brooklyn

Saint Patrick’s Day is quickly approaching, and there’s no need to travel across the East River to the big parade on 5th Avenue. If you’d rather not be in a crowd of two million revelers, there’s plenty of ways to celebrate Irish heritage and the holiday in Brooklyn this year.

[instagram_embedding url=”https://www.instagram.com/p/rAKnphkpJH/”]

Enjoy Irish Night at the Brooklyn Historical Society

The Brooklyn Historical Society has their Free Friday once a month, but March’s event has a distinct Irish flavor to it. There will be a special lecture on the influence of Irish immigrants and their impact on the history of New York City and its institutions by Elizabeth Stack. No Saint Patrick’s Day celebration would be quite the same without a drop or two of the uisce beatha, the water of life in Irish, or whiskey in English. Kings County Distillery will give a talk called “The Whiskey Wars,” and follow it with a tasting. The event will run from 5 to 9 p.m. at BHS on Friday, March 10. Check out more info here.

Learn about the history of the Irish in Greenpoint

Do the names McGuinness Boulevard and McCarren Park sound Irish to you? Local historian and native Irishman Geoff Cobb will give a talk about the impact of the Irish on Greenpoint, a neighborhood primarily known as a Polish enclave. The event will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at Gallery AWA at 61 Greenpoint Avenue on Saturday March 11. Learn about the event here.

[instagram_embedding url =”https://www.instagram.com/p/0klMuQE2rq/”]

Catch a parade

Brooklyn has plenty of Saint Patrick’s Day parades. There’s the Gerritsen Beach parade (March 18), the Park Slope parade (March 19) and the Bay Ridge parade (March 26). Check out details of the parade routes here.

Grab a pint of the black stuff and listen to Irish music

You don’t have to book a plane ticket from JFK to Dublin or Shannon to hear traditional Irish tunes. Every Monday, you can raise a glass at Hartley’s in Clinton Hill during Irish music night, starting at 8:30 p.m.

Related Stories

• Photos from the St. Patrick’s Day for All Parade
• 5 Irish Bars to Check Out for Saint Patrick’s Day
• Warm Up at These Whiskey Bars

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.