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Dallas typically celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with a parade and raucous festival on Greenville Avenue (when events aren’t canceled because of a pandemic). But it hasn’t always been that way.
Before the greening of Greenville, the Irish holiday was marked with balls and tea parties. And retailers got in on the action, too. Lucky readers could find their pot o’ gold in the form of sales and promotions from their favorite stores and restaurants.
We combed through our archives to find all the ways St. Paddy’s Day has been celebrated, North Texas style.
Good, clean fun
St. Patrick’s Day was once a tame celebration, marked by luncheons, dances and Mass.
The Leprechaun Story League, a local group that practiced the art of storytelling, celebrated every year.
In 1953, the Ancient Order of the Hibernians held its first ball at Louanns and had fresh shamrocks flown in from Ireland to use as table decorations.
The Friendly Sons and Daughters of St. Pat held a dance at the Royal Coach Inn in 1977 that featured Irish dancers, an orchestra and several Irish tenors.
Some Dallas businesses held special events. In 1948, Sanger Bros. put on a fashion show that showcased green clothing to be worn for the holiday. In 1928, the Adolphus Hotel held a St. Patrick’s dinner and dance, complete with an orchestra.
Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, there was an annual parade in downtown Dallas. In 1964, the parade had “five bands, two horseback riding clubs, ancient autos and dignitaries in open cars — plus plenty of green-eyed beauties.”
Scene livens up
In 1972, Nick Farrelly, the owner of Nick Farrelly’s Lounge — aka the NFL— started a St. Patrick’s Day parade in the Oak Lawn area. Every year from then until the mid-1980s, revelers would make their way down the streets towards the NFL and be treated with green beer — always under the shadow of the flag of Ireland.
The emergence of this parade, and a few years later the Greenville Avenue parade, changed the atmosphere of the local celebrations. Gone were the days of teas and luncheons. Now it was all about green beer, loud music and revelry.
The Greenville Avenue parade was well known for getting out of hand. Some fun facts from the 1983 affair: 200 spectators downed two free kegs of green Old Milwaukee beer in 20 minutes, a circus elephant was rented to carry two local radio personalities down the parade route, and another float boasted a flute-playing, man-sized frog.
In 1984, not even rain could dampen spirits at competing parades in downtown and on Greenville Avenue.
In 2002, despite security concerns after 9/11, the Greenville Avenue parade continued, thanks in part to donations that reduced production costs by $100,000.
Patron saint of savings?
St. Patrick’s Day was not just for parades and parties. It was also an excuse for a sale. On the days leading up to the holiday, readers could find great deals throughout the newspaper.
In 1906, Martin Casey & Co. in Fort Worth claimed to be the only seller of the “purest Irish whiskey.”
In 1977, Spaghetti Warehouse offered up green beer and green spaghetti.
In 1989, you could pick up the soundtrack to Rain Man for only $6.99 at Sound Warehouse.
In 1990, Red Marron Floors cut the price of all green carpet 17% in honor of the holiday. If you wanted any other color, though, you were out of luck and had to pay full price.
In 2002, The Dallas Morning News provided readers who forgot to wear green with a tongue-in-cheek way of clipping “savings.”
And of course it wouldn’t be a holiday without ads from car dealerships. In 2002, Courtesy Nissan promised customers they could “hit the jackpot” with a new car.
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