Make Merry in Murphys for Irish Day

Break out the lucky clovers for a storied Golden State celebration.

THE VILLAGES OF GOLD COUNTRY... each boast somewhere around 19 to 297 layers of history, when it comes to anecdotes about local characters, how the bank and/or hotel and/or saloon began, and why a particular event is observed on a particular day of the calendar. But figuring out why Irish Day, a lively celebration in Murphys each late winter, is celebrated around the middle of March, doesn't take too much investigating: It is, indeed, a St. Patrick's Day party, one that keeps a sweet, small-town-y spirit close to its heart. For sure, there's a parade, because it would hardly seem like the 17th of March without a few bagpipes and waving parade participants, and there are booths, too, brimming with "... hand crafted items, original art, tasty food, wine, and other beverages." You'll want cash on hand, of course, for any vittles or merch you want to leave Murphys with, but the whole happy party?

IT'S FREE, so there's no admission booth at one end of Main Street, asking for an entry fee. The revelries dance from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 17, with a pancake breakfast kicking it all off, carb-tastically (and a good thing, too; you'll want the power to go, go, go all day). The parade begins at 11 o'clock, so find your curb for some of that bag-pipean bliss, and enjoy celebrating alongside "thousands of people from Northern California" who are looking for a more low-key, more historic, and certainly more Gold Rush-inspired expression of the holiday. The town does boast ties to Ireland, making it one of the musts around the Golden State, should you want to know all of the places that truly do it up for St. Patrick's. To note? Irish Day is usually celebrated on the third Saturday of March in Murphys, which, yep, just happens to be March 17 in 2018.

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