With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner many are planning their green alcohol concoctions. College campuses and even cities will devise ways to turn things that really shouldn’t be green, green. While the stereotype of the typical Irishmen is still a drunkard and therefore St. Patrick’s Day has become an unsung day of alcoholic drinking, a town in Boston has decided to take a stand.
St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick ’s Day in modern times has turned into a green and orange fanfare with Jerry Springer beads and drinking helmets and other paraphernalia featuring shamrocks. How a feast day to celebrate the much honored saint of Ireland turned into a hullabaloo of alcohol drinking games and “kiss me I’m Irish (but not really) shirts, is still a mystery. However, there might still be hope.
Forget The Alcohol
South Boston has formulated a group that will help create family friendly zones that encourage sobriety for their annual St. Patty’s Day parade. Boston, favoring a highly Irish population is known for their spectacular displays of Irish heritage and community especially around St. Patrick’s Day. In an effort to create a more family friendly environment and to reduce the amount of young people drinking many organizations have banded together to achieve such goals.
Family Friend Zones
The organizations currently have three family friendly zones that require registration beforehand. They also will feature meet and greets with kiddies favorite characters such as Dora, (wait is she Irish?) Elmo and others. South Boston hopes that this will create a new view of their town and will bring a more family friendly crowd to their parades.
In a time where alcohol festivities are venerated this is a bold and significant step towards curbing alcohol abuse and addiction. Fun CAN be had without the involvement of alcohol. So go ahead and grab your Green Apple Kool-Aid and head to South Boston for a fantastic family friendly parade, hey, you may even meet Elmo!
Update: NYC Too
As it turns out, New York City has also recently honed in on this awesome idea of a Sober St. Patrick’s Day. The alternative option to St. Patrick’s Day has been met with great praise and many people within the recovery community cannot wait to attend. Check out the festivities at www.soberstpatricksday.org and hopefully next St. Patrick’s Day all cities fall in line and create sober and recovery friendly atmospheres for this time honored saint.
