Harpoon St. Pat's Fest (2023)
Coley and I enjoy a weekend get-away. On a few occasions, we have been to Harpoon Brewery festivals, the last being Octoberfest in the Autumn of 2022. The last Irish one we went to was held in 2020, only days before everything was shut-down. This year, since everything is back on track, we bought tickets to the Harpoon St. Pat’s Festival.
Friday
<>
3 March 2023
<>
Friday <> 3 March 2023 <>
So began our rambles…
The festival is a two-day event, but tickets are sold for each day. We chose to attend on Saturday, so Friday night we headed in to town to have a drink or two at the Black Rose.
The MBTA
Coley picked a hotel that was situated in the perfect spot: close to both the train and subway stations (as well as restaurants we like - see prior posts taken during this same trip). We enjoy taking the train, but once again got scammed into buying tickets. Like good citizens, we downloaded the official app and purchased roundtrip fare. It wasn’t even asked for, it never is. They won’t expire for a few months, but I’m not taking another trip with express intent on using them up, only to not be asked for them again!
Durty Nelly's & The Black Rose
After a short walk from where the train dropped us of at North Station, our first stop was somewhat impromptu. We merely walking through the market neighborhood but saw the back door of Durty Nelly’s down the coolest alley on Marshall Street. It was too enticing, and we knew it would suite our needs.
Coley: “It has a cool vibe, like being in old-school Boston.”
Durty Nelly’s: Then and NowThirty-year and twenty-five hundred miles apart, I once again find myself at the pub’s counterpart. The latter is only influenced by the one in Ireland, but still worth the stop. Insignia badges can’t be seen in the older portion on the left, but the walls there are covered in them. I was intentionally standing under one from the Peabody Police Department, Massachusetts, where my grandfather was a Captain.
SláinteBoston always always has the potential to be a pub-crawl, but we were taking it easy and slow. Off to the Rose.
The intended stop for the evening, The Black Rose. This is about the third time we went there, probably due to its proximity to Faneuil Hall. We passed a half dozen other Irish ‘pubs’ and still made it to the Rose, so that must mean something.
To our surprise, they closed the upstairs dining area and bar… AND removed the stairs!
Coley: “There was no upstairs, which threw me off a little bit.”
It is so weird to not see something you know was there, but we were not suffering from the Mandela Effect, the internet backs us up on this one.
Great ambiance with some of my favorites: My beautiful fiancée; the flags of the Republic of Ireland and the Province of Connacht; beer (although I prefer New England IPA to stout) and Irish Coffee.
Coley: “The guy playing the music was really good. I had a few ciders, and we had Irish coffees. I wasn’t bad though. Right? It was fun, we had a good night. It was the perfect buzz.”
Saturday
<>
4 March 2023
<>
Saturday <> 4 March 2023 <>
Harpoon Brewery
When going into Boston I don’t like driving for a multitude of reasons, and the obvious place to get on the T, coming from the North Shore, is at the blue line’s terminus at Wonderland. Just like the train the night before, this subway stop was only minutes away from the hotel. Coley really planned this one right. Wonderland is named after the greyhound track nearby, and it has an easy-access parking garage… as long as you don't follow the Google Maps instructions for the station. Make sure the garage is the destination.
The ride into Boston is less than half-hour with minimal stops. We knew that to get to Harpoon Brewery, the easiest way is to transfer at the Airport station and take the SL3 shuttle-bus.
We bought two $2.40 tickets to board at Wonderland, and expected a free transfer at the airport. Well, everybody that got on the bus was swiping their Charlie Cards! We did not have any money left on our ticket (they don't take cash) we stepped aside to be the last on and asked the bus driver if it was free; it was not. So much for best-laid plans.
Coley: “Google said the inbound was free, but that may only be if you were getting off an airplane. The bus driver let us take the bus anyway, even though we didn’t have any money… we had money, but we didn’t have the ticket. Then when we took the bus back - that one was actually ‘free’ which we were like surprised about…yeah, because you have to pay for that one.”
Boston’s public transit payment collection implementation is wild!
All AboardWe stayed on the bus past the stop for Harpoon and got off in South Station. It felt like the Rainforest Café in there: dimly lit, humid, water dripping, birds flying around, etc. Our next stop would only be five minutes away, so had a few lattes and headed back down at 11:30 (Harpoon had a noon open).
The LineIn previous years when the weather was nice, the line (stanchioned-off from the sidewalk) literally went around the block. We anticipated that people would show up late because of the conditions, but AccuWeather had a little trouble with the prediction to be sure. Even though I brought an umbrella I barely used I, it was a comfortable wait.
Coley: “I don't feel like the weather was really that bad. I don't feel like we ended up getting wet; it was cold though. We'd spent a lot of time on public transportation, so I feel like that helped us keep dry. They don't care what the weather's like - you're stuck out until it's exactly the time when the event starts. It was okay when we left; it wasn’t raining anymore.”
Warm UpThe band, Kier Byrnes, was tuning their instruments; we were the first ones in the ‘second’ tent. The dozen people that arrived to the event in front of us stopped to get beer at the entrance, but we knew they also sold it in this tent as well.
These are good guys, years before the singer had given me a CD, and after their set he handed me a QR code to get the album.
More of My Favorite ThingsI know Coley only accompanies me to these events so that she can monitor my behavior, but she sure seems to have enjoyed herself.
#HARPOONSTPATSAn unused umbrella acts more like a shillelagh.
Back on the first-stage, the pipe and drums of Colum Cille were putting on a show. The picture was taken when they were playing classic, Sweet Child O’Mine.
I know the band is ‘Celtic,’ but I think it’s safe to say they tend more to the Scottish side. The hats give that fact away. The music was awesome none the less, and they were highlighting some younger musicians in the band. That bodes well for the years to come.
Recap:
Another successful Saint Patrick’s Celebration in Boston!
I enjoyed watching Dicey Riley play. Having a solo piper was a nice addition to their group. They are not pictured in the line-up insert below. I have better pictures when they played at the Irish American Home in Glastonbury a few years ago so didn’t take many of them this day.
For similar postings, click through on any of the tags below: