St Patrick's Day, Kiwi style

BY SHAHRA WALSH AND MICHAEL FOX

March 17 is the busiest day of the year for Irish bars in Christchurch and the annual event takes weeks of preparation.

The staff at Bailies Irish Bar in Cathedral Square began stockpiling kegs of traditional Irish stout to serve to the influx of patrons expected on St Patrick's Day "weeks ago".

Greg Mooney, the bar's "keg fairy'' said the bar had ordered 40 kegs of Guinness ready to be served today.

"We've got 40 kegs of Guinness, 50 litres [in each]. That's how many we used last year,'' Mooney said.

Mooney said on a regular Saturday night the bar would use one keg of Guinness.

Bar staff said New Zealanders enjoyed the drinking, music and the craic or enjoyable atmosphere associated with Irish culture.

Food and beverage manager Amy Mangan said St Patrick's Day was "definitely'' the bar's busiest day of the year but Mooney said March 18 was often just as challenging as staff usually joined in with the celebrations "later on''.

"Tomorrow's the day. Clean-up day. With a hangover,'' he said. 

Celebrating St Patrick's Day, Kiwi-style

Everybody's Irish on St Patrick's Day, according to Christchurch woman Seaneen McKenzie, but some are just a little more Irish than most.

McKenzie is among thousands in New Zealand to celebrate St Patrick's Day today and said Christchurch's cold, grey weather would not put a damper on celebrations.

"It's got nothing to do with the weather, it's about the day and the special occasion,'' she said.

Every year McKenzie, 35, buys her one-year-old daughter Caoimhe (pronounced Keva) a new outfit to celebrate the day.

This year's ensemble included a dress, socks and shoes covered in shamrocks as well as a matching bow to wear in her hair.

"Obviously us dressing her up is trying to set her up for the tradition as well," she said.

"I'm hoping that as she gets older she'll love dressing up too. I'm hoping ... she'll be pleased and proud that we did that for her."

Playing dress-up wasn't just for the little ones as McKenzie had decked herself out with green, white and gold eye shadow, and Irish flags on her face with the colour scheme stretching from her top to her headband "like all those other crazies at the pub that you see get dressed up. That's us," she said.

Around 20 per cent of Kiwis claim to have Irish roots, with even more claiming it for the day in order to join in celebrations.

Born in New Zealand to Irish parents, McKenzie said her heritage had always loomed large in her life.

"It was sort of instilled in me from an early age and I suppose I've just carried on the tradition," she said.

The day was a chance to honour Ireland's patron saint, but more recently had become a celebration of Irish roots.

An Irish dancer since the age of seven and a former national champion, Mrs McKenzie has travelled to Ireland three times - once for the world championships, once on an OE, and most recently with her husband of four years, Mark, whom she married on St Patrick's Day.

The pair celebrated their anniversary on a separate day, she said.

Today they had breakfast at Bailies Irish Bar where they hoped to "get in to the swing of things" before an Irish bar-crawl.

The festivities would finish at the home of McKenzie's parents. Family and friends have taken the next two days off work.

"With some of us having young children now we have to think about them and obviously we can't spend all day and night at the pub," she said.

"So that's our plans for the day and then hopefully not have too sore a head on Thursday."

HAVE YOUR SAY: What are your plans for St Patrick's Day?

- © Fairfax NZ News