Palatine Gearing Up For St. Patrick's Day

Palatine is gearing up for the “Paint the Town Green” celebration March 12, an event organizers hope will become an annual tradition.

 “We are going to have a family-friendly day of celebration for St. Patrick’s Day,” said event coordinator Liz Noe of ElizEvents in a press release. “Irish food, drink and entertainment will be available at a number of local establishments. They’ll be collecting items to support the homeless and near-homeless through Journeys from PADS to HOPE.”

 “Paint the Town Green” is funded privately and is not being paid for by the village of Palatine.

According to a press release from organizers, the event will kick off with a parade at 11 a.m. in downtown Palatine. The parade begins at 200 W. Wood St. The parade features 39 parade entries and over 500 participants. During the parade marchers with shopping carts will collect food, clothing and disposable paper products for Journeys from PADS to HOPE  Items may also be dropped off at the train station, Harrington Manor, Durty Nellie’s, Fox Glove Cottage and Bead World during or after the parade.

 One of the organizing forces behind “Paint the Town Green” is , 180 N. Smith St. Nellie’s will be serving Irish food and will have drink specials. Nellie's musical offerings will include:

• Irish folk band Character Fleadh from 12:30 p.m. until 3 p.m.
• Celtic punk band Flatfoot 56 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Rod Tuffcurls & Bench Press will perform songs from the 80s and fun sing alongs from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m.
• Black Cadillac will cover bands such as The Killers, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Guns N Roses, and Bryan Adams from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
• Wedding Banned will take the stage from 11 p.m. until close.

 There will be a $5 cover after 4 p.m.

will serve Kegs N Eggs from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and traditional Irish food. Emmett's entertainment will begin at noon:

• Irish folk band Kingsfold Trio will play from noon to 3 p.m.
• Trey Higgins will perform with bagpipes from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“Paint the Town Green” also will feature an Irish Market at the Metra station from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A wide variety of businesses will be celebrating Paint the Town Green:

• will have a store wide sale during the celebration.
• will have special pricing on flowers, clothing, jewelry and foodstuffs.

• will be holding a wine and beer tasting from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Dobby’s will be tasting “beers with an Irish accent” as well as Bordeaux and wines.

For more information about Paint the Town Green visit www.stpatspalatine.com.