St. Patrick’s on the Hill parade
Staff photo
Get your green outfit ready, everyone. It’s time for a St. Paddy’s Day celebration in Fayetteville.
The fourth-annual St. Patrick’s on the Hill will kick off on Saturday, March 14 with a parade at 11 a.m., followed by a full day full of music, food, beer, and fun on the Fayetteville square.
The event began in 2012, when local resident and Irish culture enthusiast Don Brown and some friends decided that Fayetteville deserved its own St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Brown organized a parade for that year, but the event has since increased in both scope and attendance each year.
Poster: Bryce Parker Harrison
This year, organizers are expecting more than 3,000 people to attend the event.
“I think it’s going to make that progressive step it needs to,” Brown said. “I think with the music area and the beer garden, it’s going to really start maturing into a longterm event for Fayetteville.”
The parade this year will begin at the old Fayetteville City Hospital building, and then travel up West Avenue, onto Dickson, and then up Block Street to the square.
After that, a craft beer garden featuring seven local breweries as well as several local home brewers will open at 1 p.m. Breweries scheduled to attend include Apple Blossom Brewing Co., Fossil Cove Brewing Co., Saddlebock Brewery, Core Brewing. Co., West Mountain Brewing Co., Stones Throw, and Bike Rack Brewing Co.
The breweries and home brewers will be competing in the second annual Stout Brewing Competition, and awards will be given for both professionals and amateurs, as well as a people’s choice winner.
Admission to the craft beer garden is $5, and includes a souvenir cup. Proceeds from the beer garden will benefit both the M&N Augustine Foundation and their annual Easter Feed, as well as Special Olympics Arkansas.
The event will also include live music from Ozark Ceili Band, Ozark Highlanders Pipe Band, Farmer & The Markets, and Leah & The Mojo Doctors.
Expect face-painting and balloon stations, and a mechanical bull.
A full schedule of events is below. For more information, visit stpatricksonthehill.com.
St. Patrick’s on the Hill 2015 schedule of events – March 14
11 a.m. – Parade starts
1 p.m. – Beer garden opens (Fayetteville square)
1 p.m. – Music: Ozark Ceili Band, Sugar on the Floor, Ozark Highlanders Pipe Band, and McCafferty School of Irish Dancing (Fayetteville Square)
4:30 p.m. – Stout Brewing Competition Homebrewer Winner Announced (Fayetteville Square)
5 p.m. – Music: Farmer & the Markets (Fayetteville Square)
5:30 p.m. – Stout Brewing Competition Brewery, People’s Choice Winner Announced (Fayetteville Square)
5:30 p.m. – Music: Leah & The Mojo Doctors
St. Patrick’s on the Hill 2015 schedule of events – March 17
7 p.m. – Ozark Ceili Band (Maxine’s Tap Room)
