No holiday more clearly embodies Boston than St. Patrick’s Day—it’s a celebration of beer, Ireland, and Celtic green. So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that when Bostonist arrived at Harpoon for the brewery's annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival, we were greeted with the prospect of standing in line behind the ENTIRE city. Somehow, though, we were still shocked.
Our great time at Oktoberfest had given us high hopes for another Harpoon event, but said hopes disappeared faster than a rainbow when the sun fades. The event was at capacity, and we were told to wait for hordes of people to leave, thus enabling us to enter (eerily reminscent of an earlier encounter with long lines). Admittedly, conditions could have been worse: the weather was a balmy sixty degrees and it was entertaining to watch the parade of adults draped in shiny green beads and light-up shamrock antennae. But when an event staffer came by and told us that about 200 people had left all day—out of 3400 in attendance—we didn't feel so lucky anymore.
After an exciting hour spent in line next to two of Boston’s most, uh, "eligible" bachelors (one asked for a “swig of booze” from our steel water bottle; the other tried the epic pickup line “How does it feel to be mistaken for a prostitute?” out on us), we finally decided that a free beer and a souvenir pint glass were not worth either $20 or hours of waiting, much less both. We swiftly exited the line (being very careful that our line friends did not follow) and spent our $20 on several (magically delicious) drinks elsewhere.
It is now obvious that we should have arrived at the event much, much earlier (hindsight, 20/20, etc.). But even if we hadn’t had to wait in line, is $20 really worth a few bands, one free beer, and the grand chance to rub elbows with some good ol' Boston boys? For much less money, you can go to almost any line-free music venue in the city, hear a great band, and convince some (hopefully less offensive) dude to buy you a beer. In a city like Boston, you always have options, and you should never have to spend a gorgeous Saturday just standing around. At least we still have plenty of time to plan a more appropriate—and line-free—St. Pat's celebration.
Photos and post contributed by Jill, Fringe blogger and line-waiter extraordinaire.
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