Friday, March 29, 2024
39.0°F

Pro tips for amateur St. Patrick’s partiers

| March 11, 2020 1:00 AM

When I received the results of my Ancestry.com DNA test a year ago my first thought was that I’d been under-celebrating St. Patrick’s Day all of my life. While England and Wales are my predominant origins, Ireland and Scotland make up over one-third of my DNA story.

So while I’m nowhere near St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal status, as is Barry McHugh with 92 percent Irish blood, I’m claiming celebratory options. As almost-Irish I would like to remind people that the shortening of St. Patrick’s Day is St. Paddy’s Day, not St. Patty’s Day. Patty is short for Patricia, Paddy is short for Padraig, the Irish spelling of Patrick.

A photo of a funny sign in the Dublin airport sent from my friend Jessica Walter Woods (Lakeland High School Class of ’93) and Irish resident for a couple of decades:

“FOGRA/NOTICE March 17 is Saint Patrick’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Patrick’s Day, St. Paddy’s Day or Paddy’s Day. IT IS NOT St. Patty’s Day or Patty’s Day. Not this year, not last year, not ever.”

My beautiful and authentically Irish friend Katherine Ekhoff preaches about the difference a shamrock and a four-leaf clover ... “There are only three leaves on a shamrock. That four-leaf nonsense I see everywhere is a clover. Shamrock is our symbol in Ireland in remembrance of how Patrick used the three leaves on one stem to explain the concept of The Trinity when he was converting the Irish to Christianity.

“A four-leaf clover is an English Druid symbol superstitiously used for good luck and has nothing to do with Ireland. I wouldn’t be seen dead wearing it on St. Patrick’s Day! People wearing it should be fined, LOL”

I have such smart friends. Sláinte!

• • •

Going to my polling place Tuesday to vote in the Idaho Presidential Primary was a bit more meaningful than usual. It was my first ballot cast in 2020, the 100th anniversary year of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. As I marked my ballot I said a thank you to all of those women who sacrificed mightily so me and my daughters could have a voice.

• • •

Things to Do: Thursday the 18th annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival at NIC, sponsored by the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, is from 6:30-9 p.m. On Friday a free showing of “The Wild” is 6:30 p.m. at Coeur d’Alene Public Library. Information: kea@kealliance.org, 208-667-9093

On Friday the public is invited to ring a bell to mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Gather in front of NIC’s Edminster Student Union Building at 11 a.m. Info: kathy.albin@nic.edu

Friday and Saturday, the Coeur d’Alene Symphony presents the National Young Artists Winners Concert at the Kroc Center Theater. Concerts are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday. Info: 208-765-3833.

On Saturday everyone’s Irish so enjoy the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown Coeur d’Alene. The parade kicks off at 4 p.m. on Sherman Avenue at Eighth Street and through downtown to First Street.

CHS Viking Booster Club Country Auction on Saturday at the Best Western Plus Cd’A Inn at 5:30 p.m.

Big Man of Cd’A, to benefit Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, is 6 p.m. Saturday at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort. Info: www.cdasummertheatre.com

Get your green on with the Coeur d’Alene Rotary Saturday night for Coeur d’Irish at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. Bagpipes, Irish dancers, food and specialty drinks. The fun starts at 5:30 p.m.; info www.coeurdalenerotary.org

Bingo, Brews and Blarney on Saturday to benefit the Hayden Senior Center at the Greyhound Park and Event Center from 5 -8 p.m.

• • •

Happy Birthday today to Jim Booth, Ed Robar, Heather Callahan, Mindy Newby, Jim Faucher, Travis Jank and Rachel Burkhardt. Tomorrow DeAnn Johnson, Will Henderson, Sylvia McCormick, Josh Vesser, Faith Hazard Wiley, Ali Hanson, Kim Maksen, Jan Daugharty, John Neirinckx, Christel Fredericks and David Wegner will have their cake and eat it, too.

Lucky Friday the 13th birthdays will be celebrated by Paula Sharp, Robin Karrick, Laurie Boeckel and Erich Eickmeyer. Saturday Tom Capone, Wayne Cofield, Bud Evans, David Cehr, Candace McEnespy, Teri Rouse, Fabian Medina, Ina Bressler and Sheila Kemmis do the birthday dance. On Sunday John McGruder, Bill Haughton, Terie Huston, Len Crosby, Rick Noordam, Barry Rubin, Zack Yost, Pam Humphrey and Penny Brownell put on their party hats.

On Monday Colleen English, John Bujosa, Cindy Marcella, Cathy Riorden, Kelly Moore, Ken Kress, LauraLee Johnson, Laurel Rollins, Daniel Schelske and Dottie Pichard take another trip around the sun. Combining a little luck o’the Irish with their birthday celebration on March 17 are William Shannon Reynolds (50!), Pat Castelian, Cody Peugh, Keith Hutcheson, Patty Conkle, Trish Ortega, Terry Corey, Carrie Nicholson, Mike Gump and Nichelle Price.

• • •

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.