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St. Patrick's Day and Tacoma go way, way back - all the way back to Tacoma's very earliest days when loggers, sailors and at least one bear (no really) roamed the city streets. The Tacoma Daily Ledger mentioned the old traditions of wearing jaunty green ribbons and shamrocks to show Irish heritage or citizenship as far back as the 1890s. As the years crawled on, St. Paddy's remained a to-do in T-town, but whether the to-do was confined to high mass or bars or spilled revelry into the streets depends on the year.

In the early 1900s, St. Patrick's Day most often included a catholic mass, but the local branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians - a fraternal organization made up of Irish descendants and immigrants - also had a major role in festivities. Papers throughout the 1910s and 20s mentioned the Hibernians annual play, often telling the story of intrepid Irish men and women overcoming difficulty. In 1921, the Tacoma Daily Ledger also highlighted the Hibernians raising money to help the starving population of Ireland. As anyone who watches Downton Abbey knows, the plight of the Irish was a big deal in the early 1900s.

By 1935, though, St. Patrick's Day seems to have become old hat. The Tacoma Daily Ledger on March 17, 1935, says, "In the olden days, there were services in the churches of commemoration, but the sons and daughters of Erin were also wont to make it a day of celebration. There were parades in which the green flag was proudly borne, there was the picnic where Irishmen and their descendants made merry, and then the festivities were prolonged well into the night. Like so many old-time customs, the celebration of St. Patrick's Day has quieted down - almost allowed to lapse."

And, in fact, other than church and school dances and other wee events, St. Patrick's Day seems to have taken a good long break.

Not until the 1960s did the holiday really get cookin' again. A Tacoma News Tribune in 1975 mentions Honan's (now Club Silverstone on St. Helen's Ave.) as St. Paddy's central. Starting in the '60s, Honan's discovered there was another Honan's in Ennis, Ireland. Each year after that discovery, Honan's Tacoma would call Honan's Ennis. The two pubs came to regard each other as sister saloons.

The 1980s brought a parade. In 1982, The Trib called the parade the first official St. Paddy's celebration in 50 years. The parade gathered in front of the Pantages, marched down Broadway, and ended at the Bicentennial Pavilion where the entire pavilion was made into a giant "pub" with music, singing and dancing. Sadly, the parade didn't do very well. Only about 300 people showed, largely due to nearby pubs. Honan's was offering two drinks for $5 and Ceccanti's Restaurant (38th and Pacific Ave.) charged $7.50 for unlimited food and drink. Who could say no to that?

Today, Tacoma doesn't see too many parades. Instead, Tacomans do as they always have done - gather in pubs and toss back mass quantities of beer and whiskey.

Doyle's Public House in the Stadium District, which is so serious about its St. Patrick's Day that it holds 11 practice sessions throughout the year, throwing a shindig on the 17th of every month. This year, because St. Paddy's is on a Sunday, Doyle's will stretch out it's St. Patrick's Day celebration over four days, March 14-17, erecting a 4,000-square-foot tent in the adjacent parking lot. Expect copious amounts of beer, and live music by the Bog Hoppers and punctuated by The Fucking Eagles and others.

"The best year was about three years ago," says Doyle's co-owner Russ Heaton. "Everybody seemed to be in good spirits even though the economy was in the grips of an abject free fall. It was the first year we had the Pierce County Firefighter bagpipers come through. When they started up around the corner, the entire place went dead silent quiet as soon as the first note was hit. To quiet down a crowd of this size was amazing. The bagpiper hit his note and literally - silence. The ability of the bagpipes to do that - and they do it still - but that first time it happened is still one of those times where I was like: Holy Cow!"