According to History.com, St. Patrick’s Day 2018 occured on Saturday, March 17, in observance of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. What began as a religious feast day in the 17th century has evolved into a variety of festivals across the globe celebrating Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, and a whole lot of green.

Many Arrowhead students participated in activities for St. Patrick’s day weekend.

AHS senior Kaiyli Whelan said, “For my St. Patrick’s day weekend, I had a dance competition, so I wasn’t able to go out and celebrate much with my family and friends. We were still able to go out to dinner as a team and have a good dinner. We also got to wear green and wear clothing. Even though it wasn’t my typical St. Patty’s day weekend, I still had a lot of fun.”

Whelan said she has some traditions that she does for St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

“Usually I wake up and my mom dyes our milk green as a joke. There are also a few tricks that she comes up with that my family always finds funny. She has leaves some tracks from the leprechaun along with some snacks. Then we go out to breakfast and hangout with my dad’s side of the family before heading over the Erin Parade. The Erin parade is by far my favorite part of the day. It’s always neat to see the car activities that are going on there,” Whelan said.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “it may be a small town, but there’s nothing lacking about they the way the town of Erin celebrates March 17th. With St. Patrick’s day falling on a Saturday this year, the town got an even bigger crowd than usual for its 28th annual St. Patrick’s day Parade. ‘This has been a longstanding tradition in the town of Erin. We close down one of our main roads through the town,’ said parade committee chairman and Erin Inn owner Derek Wilcox. ‘There’s a bunch of people that we pull in from far away, and everyone’s having a good time and everyone’s celebrating life.’ Wilcox, an Erin native, is in his first year organizing the parade after having purchased the Erin Inn, an Irish pub, from Jeff Kraft, who ran the parade for 22 years.”

AHS senior Sophia Haideman also celebrated St. Patrick’s day weekend.

“For St. Patrick’s day weekend, I went to the Erin parade which is what my family always something I look forward to. There is always new parts of the parade that are amusing. And once the parade is all done we go to a late lunch down the road,” said Haideman.

Haideman said, “I overall love this holiday, it is such a small celebration and a fun time to spend with my family.”

Next year St. Patrick’s day will fall on a Sunday so the Erin parade will be on March 16th, 2019.