Celebrating Irish heritage, not binge drinking

Sixth Sober St. Patrick’s Day Party and Celebration set in Avon Lake

When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, there’s no shortage of events based around the notion of kegs and eggs, green beer and alcohol-fueled shenanigans.

However, for the better part of the last decade, there’s been one event attempting to reclaim the Irish holiday sans the booze.

A Sober St. Patrick’s Day Party and Celebration returns for its sixth year March 17 at Ahern’s Banquet Center in Avon Lake.

“I was at a reception years ago for a singer who does work around addiction,” Sober Seventeenth Inc. President Jack Kilroy said. “He started a sober St. Patrick’s Day Party in New York City. He told me I should try to start one in Ohio, so I did.

“I had people — even Irish people in recovery — tell me I was crazy and it wouldn’t work, but the first year it was sold-out, with more than 250 attendees. We surprised everybody.”

A Sober St. Patrick’s Day Party and Celebration is presented by Sober Seventeenth Inc. and The LCADA Way.

“We’re so pleased to be partnering with Sober Seventeenth,” said Thomas D. Stuber, president and CEO of The LCADA Way, in a news release. “The night is sure to be a great time for our customers, families and their friends.”

While A Sober St. Patrick’s Day Party and Celebration provides a wholesome family atmosphere, it’s also attempting to reclaim a holiday that Kilroy said over the last half century has been taken hostage.

“I believe St. Patrick’s Day was started in Ireland as a religious observance,” Kilroy said. “In the United States, it’s a demonstration of Irish solidarity in a time when the Irish were discriminated against.

“It’s only in the last several decades that it’s become an excuse for binge drinking,” he continued. “I think it’s bizarre that people think an appropriate way to celebrate a patron saint of Ireland’s holiday is by binge drinking.”

Someone who wholeheartedly agrees with that sentiment is James Kilbane. Direct from County Mayo Ireland, the singer returns as a featured live act for his fourth Sober St. Patrick’s Day Party and Celebration.

“I’m delighted to be returning,” Kilbane said. “It’s a fantastic event and one that I really enjoy and am delighted to be involved with. I do believe in the concept of a St. Patrick’s Day family event free of having the need for alcohol. St. Patrick brought our Christian faith, not booze, to Ireland.”

The talented singer, who is a multi-platinum artist in Ireland, said he enjoys sharing the Irish culture at the event.

“People should expect good Irish fun, food and entertainment,” Kilbane said. “I will be singing lots of Irish ballads, folk and plenty of opportunity for dancing. The music will have our long history of the Irish-American heritage.”

In addition to a performance by Kilbane, attendees will be greeted by 13-year-old bagpipe prodigy Reece Colovini, and the award-winning Burke School of Irish Dance will showcase authentic Irish culture through the performance of young Irish step dancers.

There also will be a shamrock face-painting and a St. Patrick’s Daythemed coloring contest with prizes. Food-wise, Irish and international favorites such as corned beef, Swedish meatballs, Italian sausage, gluten-free chicken lollipops, mini-hamburgers and pasta will be available.

“I want to add, we’re not against people drinking on St. Patrick’s Day,” Kilroy said. “It’s important to know there are hundreds of places on St. Patrick’s Day where people can drink as much as they want.

“But there is one place where they could be in a different environment. We’re the one place where there is Irish culture without the drinking.”

SUBMITTED Irish singer James Kilbane will return as the featured act for this year’s Sober St. Patrick’s Day Party and Celebration.