Galway mayor: Seattle’s St. Patrick’s Day is for everyone
Mar 16, 2018, 4:30 PM | Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 7:44 am
(Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash)
(Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash)
Galway Mayor Pearce Flannery chose Seattle out of all the American cities he could visit on St. Patrick’s Day.
“It’s not about having an Irish lineage,” he told Seattle’s Morning News on KIRO Radio. “Or Irish DNA. It’s not about that. It’s about extending the hand of friendship and embracing friendships across the globe.”
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Flannery said that is his main purpose in visiting the United States and Seattle — bridging gaps.
“Across Europe, across the Middle East, across the world we’re are in a situation where the world is very divided right now,” Flannery said. “And there is only one solution, it’s through dialogue. That solution is through embracing and accepting the differences in our cultures, the differences in our psyches and our personalities. And understanding that being different isn’t necessarily wrong. Being different is good. It’s what educates one another. We learn from other people’s differences and different perspectives.”
And if you like St. Patrick’s Day, Flannery says you’ll love Galway.
“It’s a town where you are a stranger only once,” he said. “Come and stay. Come and visit us … we are a unique group of people who are part of a global context. We must embrace that.”
St. Patrick’s Day in Seattle
Seattle ranks high when it comes to the Irish holiday. WalletHub places the city as the 15th best community to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the country.
That’s fairly impressive when you consider it ranked 200 of America’s largest cities. WalletHub used 17 metrics, including Irish pubs per capita, weather, and lodging costs. The financial website also says Seattle ranks:
- 3rd in America for Irish pubs and restaurants per capita
- 11th for access to bars
- 20th for St. Patrick’s Day parties and festivals per capita
- 32nd in percentage of Irish population
There is one factor that Seattle can work on. Out of all 200 cities ranked for the holiday, Seattle places 199th for the price of beer — meaning 198 cities have cheaper beer than the Emerald City. Only New York has a higher average price of beer.
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