Agreed. The big "do" with parades and that is the result of large numbers of Americans heading "home" (never mind where they were born) for St. Patrick's Day - and finding more sedate "entertainments" than they expected.

Major sports day - in more rural areas you'll find large numbers of people going to church in the morning and stopping at the local on the way home. Some never quite make it farther of course. There are also tremendous sessions to be found wherever there are at least some musicians to play.

Favorite line from one of them - as a piper who was playing incredibly well stopped at the end of a set of absolutely screaming reels reached for his pint, lifted it to his mouth, and missed - "Ah well, good thing its my head thats "pist" and not my fingers..." (True story, 17 March, 1982...)

Regards -

Pete