Perfect weather for St. Patrick’s Day in Calgary

A warm and sunny Sunday brought out the crowds to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day, whether they were Irish or not.

About 600 people came out to Central Memorial High School for the annual St. Patrick’s Road Race. The 5 and 10 kilometre runs have been going strong in Calgary for 37 years, and organizers say attendance is back up to what it was before the pandemic.

“It supports both Calgary Roadrunners and Team Diabetes, and we’ve got some great sponsors out there, Village Brewery, Strides Running Store, New Balance is offering a lot of prizes,” said Jeremy Deere, race co-director. “The fact that it lands this year on St. Patrick’s Day is pretty awesome.”

“It’s early season, so it’s really nice to get in a 5K this time of year, usually this race is still minus 20,” said participant Ryan Russell.

“Really cool how many people showed up,” said participant Bennett Crothers. “I wasn’t expecting that, so it shows the sport of running is growing quite a bit.”

Some Calgarians celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a run on March 17, 2024. (Tyler Barrow/CTV News Calgary)

For those less athletically inclined, pubs and community centres were also great places for the wearing of the green. The Ship & Anchor Pub was teaming with people both inside and out from morning until well after nightfall.

“It’s the best day of the year, man, it’s like Christmas for Irish people and other people who pretend they’re Irish,” said Darren Ollinger, the pub’s entertainment manager. “We don’t do the green beer, we’re a proper Guinness bar.”

And it got the stamp of approval from Irish and non-Irish alike.

“I’m from Ireland, moved here 10 years ago,” said Kayleigh Forrest. “It’s always good to get out and celebrate.”

“We’ve been doing this for 26 years, my group of friends and I,” said Michel Savard. “Everybody’s a community, everybody is here to share in the same joy and have the same fun.”

“My parents are both Irish so I take St. Patrick’s Day very seriously,” said Elizabeth O’Carroll. “It’s fun to drink but I think it’s a time we all get together and take a second and just have fun.”

Meantime, the Irish Cultural Society of Calgary held a family-friendly bash in Bowness featuring live music, traditional food and of course, Guinness.

“It’s really about an expression of our Irishness,” said Fintan Ryan, Director of Events for the Irish Cultural Society. “Four million people live in Ireland, 75 million people around the world came to be Irish. So on a day like today, it’s an opportunity for those people to come together and celebrate being Irish.”

“It’s our national holiday, it means everything to me,” said Joseph O’Dowd, an immigrant from Kilkenny, Ireland. “I guess its extra special too when you are away from home, and the Guinness is lovely too.”