Happy Other "Days"

Today, March 16, some say, is St. Urho's Day, but there are probably still more Finnegans and Fenians than Finns in Boston.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, March 17. In Suffolk County (primarily the City of Boston), March 17 is also an official holiday called "Evacuation Day," although the Farmer's Almanac hints at an ulterior motive in the choice of the exact date on which to commemorate the British departure from the city in 1776.

Although there's little mention of Evacuation Day on the official City Website (whose manager, like most city employees, probably gets the day off), the calendar does list the Chieftains' St. Patrick's Day concert at Symphony Hall on, appropriately, the Green Line. It only took a little poking around the city site to find a link to the Evacuation Day Events List (some started two weeks ago!) at the somewhat shaky SouthBostonOnline.com.

The South Boston Tribune mentions a 228th Annual Evacuation Day Banquet and the fact that the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Road Race (separate events) will be on Sunday the 21st this year. The race begins at 10 a.m. It slows to parade velocity at 1 p.m., according to the city calendar. After the parade, the Shanghai Circus is at Symphony Hall, a fine combination for a multi-ethnic city like Boston.

With a little more searching, I did uncover a surprising multi-city resource: SaintPatricksDayParade.com. For a more far-reaching look, try the Irish Times at Ireland.com. And, last but not least, here's the Boston Globe's special treatment of the day.

5:05:13 PM