Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 14, 1985, edition 1 / Page 7
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The Daily Jar HeelThursday, March 14, 19357 (S) S rffl M S) 9 I fill TT Jl uHi 77, s iremcim By MICHAELA OBERLAENDER Special to the DTH In Ireland, people celebrate March 17 by making pilgrimages to Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain of Ireland, or by watching rows of kilted bagpipers parade down a main street. The night features "boozing" bar-hopping at pubs with sawdust-covered floors to imbibe ale and sing folk songs. Chapel Hill is continuing the carous ing tradition for celebrating St. Patrick's Day with green beer and plenty of Irish music at local nightspots. St. Patrick's Day is a Roman Catholic feast honoring the bishop and confessor who converted Ireland to Christianity. March 17 marks the day Patrick died in about 461. When Patrick was about 16, he was sold into slavery and spent six years as a herdsman in Ireland. He escaped but heard "the voice of the Irish" beckon him to the Emerald Isle. He prepared for several years to share his faith with Irish pagans. As second bishop of Ireland, Patrick battled the authority of the druid priests. He converted most of the Irish to Christianity in about 30 years. Patrick fasted for 40 days on Croagh Patrick, a mountain in; the lonely, Connemara hills.Todaythe' site-: is: marked with a small, white chapel and draws many tourists, despite the tedious climb. The shamrock is the most famous emblem associated with the saint. Patrick supposedly showed it to a king to convey the concept of the Holy Trinity. Now shamrocks proclaiming "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" adorn green outfits to commemorate St. Patrick's Day. Wear ing even one speck of green is important to avoid being pinched. Green beer will flow Sunday from many a keg at local bars, most open especially for this occasion. And it is almost a tradition for several musical acts to play in Chapel Hill for St. Patrick's Day. Mike Cross will play his fiddle and strum his guitar in Memorial Hall for the third straight year. His traditional Celtic music, combined with the Carol ina mountain sound, will ring out at 8 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $5 in advance for students, $6.50 in advance for others and $7.50 on the day of the show. The Pratie Heads, a local band that performs a mixture of English, Scottish and Irish traditional music, will play at Rhythm Alley Saturday night. For more information, call 929-8172. The ArtSchool in Carrboro will feature the McKennas, a husband and ; wife duo from Dublin, who perform on uilMann pipes, a tin whistle,' a harp arid an accordion. They will play reels, jigs and slow Irish airs tonight at 9. Tickets cost $5 for the public and $4 for Friends of the ArtSchool. 9 J i J s r u Cat's Cradle will have rhythm and blues and early '60s rock and roll performed by A-Train. Free beer will be given to those wearing green. The club opens at 8 p.m. and requires a cover charge. Molly Maguire's Irish Pub "will be playing Irish music as loud as the stereo can handle it," said bartender David Bollinger. Molly's will barbecue pork Sunday afternoon, weather permitting. Free balloons, hats and stickers will be distributed, and a second bar will be set up outside. Spanky's will sell St. Paddy's Day T shirts for $7.95, with one dollar from each going to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. A trip for two to Washing ton, D.C. including air fare, hotel accommodations and a rental car will be given away in a drawing at midnight Sunday. The winner must be present. After 9 p.m., gift certificates and T shirts will be raffled away to those who register. A special on corned beef and cabbage and Harp's ale on tap also will be available. Darryl's 1890 Restaurant and Tavern will give away a men's 10-speed touring bicycle in a drawing between 7 and 9 p.m. Sunday. Those older than 21 can get green Blarney juice in a Darryl's mug they can keep. The King's Club in Hotel Europa will register everyone wearing green for a drawing. The grand prize is an overnight stay for two at the hotefc Other prizes include Sunday brunches for two. Irish music will be a backdrop for Irish stew and corned beef and cabbage dishes. Elliot's Nest will have free beer for wearing green and will charge $1.50 for green mixed drinks, such as grass hoppers and margaritas. There will be a reduced cover charge. Taylor's will have its St. Patrick's Day celebration Saturday, providing the first beer free for anyone wearing green. It will be closed Sunday. He's Not Here will give away shirts, hats and beer huggers. It will have a black-and-tan special (about one-third Guinness stout ale and two-thirds Bass beer) Saturday and Sunday. Green beer on tap will be available, and the prices of beer in green bottles will be reduced. Troll's and Mr. Gatti's will serve green beer and have happy-hour prices. Colonel Chutney 's will serve corned beef and cabbage and have reduced prices on green draft, Irish whiskey shots, Bass ale and Guinness stout ale. Slug's at the Pines also will have a discount on Irish beverages and will have a food special of corned beef, cabbage and Irish stew. Pyewacket will serve Bass and Harp's ale and will close at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Looking Glass Cafe will reduce salad bar prices on St. Patrick's Day. -;-:-:v5:.-:-:.:-: s t , - : J H , " - ! E .. ,.J. .,. . tnn u - - - - - ' ju --Vr r.wko Cross appears at Memorial Mall performing ' Cross' rjultarstsrt at 0 p.m. Advance tickets are $5 for Ccrc"na rounds wllh Celtic music. Tha strums of students end C3.50 for the public. ft &f s V s T i ill S - -'.s ) v f -y tt. i i i k $ i ' - W Li . u ? sT f By GENIE UNDBERG Staff Writer St. Patrick's Day was pretty much the same as any other day in the God-fearing, conservative town of Plaistow, N.H. until 80-year-old Irving Doyle became town hall custodian. Doyle once caused St. Patrick's Day chaos in the small New England town. "I raised the flag because it was St. Patrick's Day and I was proud to be Irish," he explained. . A World War I veteran, Doyle proudly raised and lowered the "Stars and Stripes" each day as part of his custodial duties. But on that March 17, Doyle's Irish blood got the better of him. The flag Doyle raised on the town hall flagpole early St. Patrick's Day morn was the green, white and orange flag of the Republic of Ireland. Doyle took the job as town custodian with much encouragement from his family. They thought the job would be a good outlet for the boundless energy of the man they called "Grampy" but most folks called "Larry," after major league baseball player "Laughing Larry" Doyle. "The job kept him from getting underfoot," his wife, Doris, said. But she sang a different tune when she could not get a minute's peace from the ringing telephone the day the Irish flag was waving from Plaistow's town flagpole. "Everybody in town was calling to complain," she said. "As soon as I hung up from one call, the phone would ring again. "I couldnt wait for Irving to get home so I could give him a piece of my mind," she said. "Only Mrs. Lynch (of Irish heritage) called to say, 'Good for Larry. He's giving this town a little bit of what they need.' " Meanwhile, at town hall, the short, stocky, barrel chested Doyle stood his ground as the switchboard was deluged with calls concerning the "strange" flag. According to Doyle's daughter, one woman even inquired, " 'Is it Russian?' " The news about the flag spread quickly, and the town became tangled with traffic, mostly near the town hall. In front of the famed flagpole, Doyle stood proud. He could not see that there was any problem. The police chief and the town selectmen gathered at the hall to plead with Doyle to take the Irish flag down, his daughter said. Doyle bought the Irish flag on his first trip to Ireland, when he was 80. The Hallahans, his daughter and son-in-law who had saved for years for their trip to Ireland, persuaded the Doyles to accompany them. After that trip, the Doyles were hooked. In fact, they did not even ask the Hallahans to join them when they left for Ireland the next summer. The Doyles took two more trips to Ireland after that. Because of this direct link with his Irish heritage, Doyle put aside his World War I scrapbooks and loose clippings that he used to take out whenever family or friends visited. He replaced them with Irish knickknacks and postcards, and tales of Irish family history. Until his first trip to Ireland, Doyle was an average St. Patrick's Day celebrant. He usually bought an Irish sweepstakes ticket for each of his eight grandchildren and sent greeting cards to the great-granddaughters he called "beautiful Irish roses" (although their heritages were a mixture of anything from Eastern European to American Indian). Unlike the stereotypical beer-or-whiskey-drinking Irishman, Doyle never had an alcoholic drink in his life. When he got to Ireland, Doyle decided to drink a glass of Guinness stout ale (a dark, almost black ale) as a tribute to the Irish. He drank a 20-ounce glass of Guinness on an empty stomach," his daughter recalled. "None of us had ever seen Grampy so jolly, but he looked stewed to the gills." The proof of how wonderful that beer must have tasted is evident in a 9-by-7-inch photo that hangs on his living room wall. In the photo, Doyle is dressed in his bulky, Irish-cableknit sweater, holding up his glass of dark beer and grinning. He gave copies of the picture to both of his daughters. Doyle often takes down the photo for visitors so they may have a closer look as he proudly tells them the story behind it. The Town of Plaistow fired Doyle for raising the Irish flag up the town flagpole. That was 10 years ago, but they talk about it still.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 14, 1985, edition 1
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