Green Beer Sunday – #SOLSC Day 2

Tipperary Hill, which is located in the western part of the city of Syracuse, is an Irish neighborhood known for the upside down traffic light and the bars/restaurants.  The most famous bar/restaurant (not just in New York, but also the northeast) serves green beer three weekends before St. Patrick’s Day.  They have been serving green beer for over fifty years.

Back in March of 1994, I attended my first Green Beer Sunday.  There was a parade and wall to wall people in the bar.  There was food, music, and of course, green beer, which is Coors Light (or some light beer) with food coloring.  I would attend six straight Green Beer Sundays and all of them would be memorable (at least the parts I could remember).

Flash to 2021.  My oldest daughter would be working her first Green Beer Sunday as a hostess at the bar/restaurant.  She is a high school junior, so this was going to be a memorable day for her.  With the COVID-19 protocols, the bar capacity was very limited (sold out in twenty minutes), there was no band and no parade, but there was still a line at the door and still die-hard partiers (mostly young like I was).  She was going to spend the late morning and all afternoon working at the door, and I could not wait for her to get home, so I could ask her questions about her time working at her first Green Beer Sunday.

I waited by the side door for her to get home.  Of course, when she walked in the door she said that she needed time to unwind (lots of 17-year-old drama), but within minutes, I had her talking.  She started with, “Everyone was being so loud.  Were you like that, Dad?”  No way, I replied.  “People were drunk by 3:00 in the afternoon.  Some couldn’t walk that well.  Were you like that, Dad?”  Another no way, but I was coming unglued.  “A lot of the younger people were flirting with each other like crazy.  You didn’t do that.  Right, Dad?”  No way.  “People were even bragging about drinking all day and calling into work sick. You weren’t like that.  Right, Dad?”  Another no way, but on this one, she almost sensed my sarcasm.  As I quickly walked out of the kitchen with a sly smirk on my face, I could see the reflection of my wife, who I met at this exact bar, in the front window.  She was shaking her head and rolling her eyes.  I guess my oldest daughter would not have been impressed by my shenanigans as a 21-year-old, but I am thrilled that she is annoyed by this behavior.  I just hope that her feelings don’t change when she gets to college.:)

It sure wasn’t the same kind of Green Beer Sunday that I had 27 years ago (I spent this Sunday doing hours of school work to get ready for another week of hybrid/remote teaching), but I certainly enjoyed my daughter’s rendition of Green Beer Sunday, and there is no way that I could spend an afternoon drinking green beer – I would have to take three days off to recover.