Irish celebrations fill Saturday St. Patrick’s slate

Published 5:00 am Friday, March 15, 2019

Hanceville will close its downtown streets Saturday to celebrate its Irish roots at a pre-St. Patrick’s Day festival.

The day-long event is part of a busy activities calendar for the Cullman area this Saturday. There’s also a 5K Shamrock Shuffle run embarking from East Elementary School at 8 a.m. in Cullman, as well as a Merchant Crawl in Cullman from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m., a St. Patty’s Day celebration at Depot Park from noon until 6 p.m., and a pub crawl of Cullman restaurants from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Hanceville’s event marks the second installment of its still-new Irish celebration, following up on last year’s first festival. This year’s version features a lineup of activities spanning the entire day, beginning with a Celtic Doggie Parade at 10 a.m.

Music from Chuck Carpenter and Tommy Chapman will kick off at 11 a.m., followed at 12:30 p.m. by traditional Irish music from A Shamrock in Kudzu. Black Market Haggis takes the stage at 2 p.m., with the O’Faolain Academy of Irish Dance closing out the entertainment beginning at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to the music and puppies, there’ll also be food vendors, kids’ activities, games, all kinds of Irish period costumes, and more. All activities at the Hanceville celebration will take place in the closed-off intersection of Commercial Street and Bangor Avenue, the two streets that form the bulk of the city’s historic downtown.

Hanceville police will provide security for the event, which is being staged by the newly-formed Friends of the Festival, a private organization devoted to bringing a variety of entertainment events to the city throughout the year.