Have a cocktail with your coffee as the
Chicago River turns green and everyone's Irish for this weekend's
St. Patrick’s Day parades downtown (Saturday) and the South Side (Sunday).
The parades start early, but the bars start even earlier to accommodate all the revelers. Your best bet is to plan ahead with one of many bar bus packages around town certain to wake you up, get you sloshed and take you straight to the middle of the action:
For an authentically rowdy ride to Chicago’s downtown St. Pat’s parade, hitch a ride on
The Abbey Pub's bus. They’re leaving at 9am to drop you off at the front of the parade. When guests return to the bar, they'll get a packed lineup of more Gaelic-themed events to keep the holiday going, including the Six Nations Rugby game on TV monitors,
Spriorad Damasa Irish dancers and live music. $10; $4 Jameson shots.
For BYOB parade ideas, the
Bar 1 guys will run buses from several of their locations making sure to get all the partiers down to the South Side parade. You can choose your pick-up location and bring your own booze of choice to help you celebrate the holiday while on the excursion. Buses leave
Duffy’s and
Redmond’s at 10am, and
McGee’s and
Durkin’s at 11am. $10; RSVP required.
Casey Moran’s whipping up a kegs and eggs breakfast deal for the downtown parade (8-10am), but the real event is the bus trip down to the South Side for Sunday morning’s mania. Doors open at 9am for brunch, Bloody Marys and Mimosas, followed by a bus ride down to the parade location between 10 and 11am. The event is BYOB, but there will also be a keg provided on the bus. $12.
Travel from Lakeview to the South Side with a beer in hand as part of the parade bus trip leaving from
Kirkwood Bar & Grill. The bus loads at 9:30am from the parking lot and keeps it classic Irish with Guinness on the bus. $20.
Indulge in the breakfast buffet and beer deal at
Mahoney’s Pub & Grille before hopping on their parade bus for a trip down to the South Side. After an afternoon of celebrating, they’ll bus everyone back to the pub for a hosted one-hour post party. The breakfast buffet runs 8-9:30am followed by buses leaving at 10am and returning at 5pm. RSVP for $30 tix.
Get warmed up with
McFadden’s St. Practice Day on Saturday morning with the all-you-can-eat-and-drink kegs and eggs (7-9am) before you stumble your way to the downtown parade ($20). For round two on Sunday, they're doing a 7-9am breakfast and brews in preparation for a party bus to the South Side. Buses leave after breakfast to drop partiers off at the parade location to do a little more drinking and return to pick them up at 2pm. And if guests are still feeling ambitious after all that, the bar will feature $3 cocktails all day. Saturday kegs and eggs event $20; Sunday is $45; RSVP required.
Timothy O’Toole’s will be going strong all weekend with themed menus, specialty drinks and a “leprechaun” selling shots. For the downtown parade, they’ll have an Irish contest, giveaways and bagpipe music. And, for an even bigger hoo-ha on Sunday, they’re packing up the parade buses, as well as offering “sack” breakfasts and beverages for a lively trip to the South Side. The bus leaves at 10am and returns at 3pm. $15.
—Served deliciously by Suzy M.
