The Dublin Community Blog

The Skyfest fireworks display that usually makes up part of the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin will be held in Cashel instead this year. In the past the event has drawn large crowds to the quays to watch the display and I personally was looking forward to the opportunity to take some cool photographs around the Custom House. This year the Rock Of Cashel will provide the back drop for the fireworks. It should be a spectacular venue but it is still a shame to see Dublin loose the event.

Anywhere that I have lived there has been a joke that if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it’ll change.  Well, that was certainly true today.  When I got up, it was sunny.  A little later, it was cloudy.  Then it got cold and windy.  Then it was hailing.  And finally: snow.  And 15 minutes after the hail started, it was sunny (but cold) again.  Unfortuntately, the weather meant that some of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities got cancelled.

  

One of the main events of the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin is the parade. Myself, my Mum and my daughter walked down to see the beginning of the parade at Parnell Square. The atmosphere was great with lots of laughs and the parade was terrific. The rain which was threatening to come just started as the festivities were winding up. While it was cold, it nearly always is, there was more than enough colour and craic to keep everyone happy.

I know others from Dublin Blog were there taking pics and maybe they will post them here too. Here are some that I got and there will be more also in our Flickr group.

Update from Declan: I finally managed to post some photos to the flickr group last night. Here is a selection. I posted them as thumbnails to save space.

They are putting up the big wheel at Merrion Square, dancing shoes are being dusted down, there are tourists everywhere, the shamrocks are getting primed as are the beer barrel pipes; it could only mean preparations for the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin are well underway.

I took pix today at different times today of the big wheel being assembled for the funfair on Merrion Square. I’ll update with more tomorrow and of course loads of people will be adding their pics to the Dublin Blog Flickr group and you can also check out pics from all over the world on St Patrick’s Day on the St Patricks Day group on Flickr.

        

11.30am                                                     12.30pm

        

3.03pm                                                         5.59pm

Anyone who has attended a couple of St Patrick’s Day parades will know that the weather on the day is notoriously random. Some people say it’s always raining, some that it’s always warm, some cold. Personally I know it’s a lottery, one year I got sun-burnt, the next I got soaked and last year I was so cold I found it difficult to use my camera after a couple of hours, my fingers were too cold out of my gloves and the gloves were too bulky for the buttons.

Met Eireann has the 3 day forecast available today (the 14th), which is usually reasonably reliable:

Friday night will become more breezy and cloudy, with spells of rain expected in the west and north by morning on SATURDAY, St Patrick’s Day. This rain will turn showery as it moves into the east and south; it’ll largely die out through Saturday afternoon and evening; with only small rainfall amounts away from the west and northwest coast. It’ll feel cold and raw through the day with a strong west or northwest wind, and temperatures remaining in single figures.

So cold and damp, wrap up warm if your going to the parade and dont forget your umbrella.

People across Dublin (and across the globe!) are deciding what they’re going to be up to this Saturday for St. Paddy’s Day.  Many will head in to town to join the festivities and hang out with friends, while others will avoid the city at all costs - but still enjoy their friends and family wherever they might find themselves. 

As a “newbie” to Ireland, I’ve asked many people what my wife and I should do for our first St. Paddy’s Day in Dublin and generally people recommend heading in to the city for the parade and a pint of the black stuff.  Funny enough, when I asked those same people what they’d be doing, often I just got a shrug and a response along these lines: “Probably just stay home and watch the parade on TV.  Maybe have some friends over.”  Whatever you decide, it’s a unique opportunity for some good craic!  

My hunch is that plenty of people will be out and about here in the Dublin area.  Here are a few online resources I’ve found that provide info. on events and festivities across the Dublin area.

St. Patrick’s Festival
Dublin Events
Lucan Festivities
GoIreland
Around the World

If you know of things happening in your area of Dublin, be sure to share it with the rest of the Dublin Community Blog in the comments section.  And “Beannachtam na feile Padraig!”