This past Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day. Now I am not Irish...but I find it a fun holiday to celebrate in this weird winter-ish/spring-ish time of year when the weather just can't decide what mood it wants to be. For a few years I have seen an ad about a St. Patrick's Day celebration at Clancey's Stone Lion in Custer, WI. Now let me tell you, Custer has two roads, three bars, a small auto sale place, and a post office...you have to cross Hwy 10 to get to the church. It's just a blip on the map, like any other country blip-like town. (Like Arnott...or Fancher). And up until Tuesday, the biggest event we knew of that occured in Custer was the annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair...and that's not in Downtown Custer (Insert snicker at the words..."Downtown Custer") Well, I told Perry that it would be fun to go to Clancey's since it's the one bar out of the three that we have never patronized AND it was having a St. Patrick's Day celebration AND it was serving corned beef and cabbage.
Now remember, Custer is not a huge metropolis. Most of the time when you drive through it, the only reason you even need to go through it is to get onto Hwy 10. It is usually pretty ghost-town-like. (I always think tumbleweeds should be blowing through the street or something.) Every Tuesday in the summer when I play volleyball in Polonia, I drive through it and it is whisper quiet...it's eerie. Now we have been to the other two bars in Custer on a Friday and Saturday night. No Problem and Custer Pit Stop are across the road from each other...and it being the country and all...you can walk back and forth with your drink and not have a problem. Hey, it's the country...and it's sad that I think it's okay...but I am becoming a bit too country!
Anyway, you can only imagine our surprise as we drove up Custer Road towards Custer and saw cars parked all the way up and down the road. We were dumbfounded. This couldn't be for the little St. Patrick's Day dealio at Clancey's?!? Then we saw the floats...then the throng of people...then the Guinness truck...and the tent set up outside Clancey's...and we were stunned. How had we lived down the road for the last however many years and never knew that there was this huge St. Patrick's Day festival/parade/celebration in little ole Custer, WI!?!
Everyone was dressed up in green and other St. Patty's Day garb, there were Irish bulldogs, a green hearse for the mock Irish funeral, flags, football scarves, etc. You seriously would have laughed if you saw the dumbfounded looks on our faces. We headed to the tent...and got ourselves some Smithwicks'...they also had Guinness and Harp on tap outside...no green beer in sight (Apparently that is the POLISH way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day...as we were told.) And then we stepped into Clancey's and I was transported back to Ireland. I had studied abroad in the Spring of 2002 and lived in London. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland, Scotland, and Wales while I was in London...along with a two week tour of the continent. Clancey's Stone Lion reminded me of an Irish pub overseas. Beautiful wood bar, Strongbow & Guinness on tap, smooth Irish whiskeys...it was unreal. And we LOVED it. We kept asking each other, WHY HAVE WE NEVER STEPPED INTO CLANCEY'S BEFORE!?
Needless to say we had a lovely time and really enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day...we saw old friends there and just took in the whole experience...and we made a promise to visit Clancey's more often. The picture on this blog is of the actual parade...thank you Stevens Point Journal!
Now remember, Custer is not a huge metropolis. Most of the time when you drive through it, the only reason you even need to go through it is to get onto Hwy 10. It is usually pretty ghost-town-like. (I always think tumbleweeds should be blowing through the street or something.) Every Tuesday in the summer when I play volleyball in Polonia, I drive through it and it is whisper quiet...it's eerie. Now we have been to the other two bars in Custer on a Friday and Saturday night. No Problem and Custer Pit Stop are across the road from each other...and it being the country and all...you can walk back and forth with your drink and not have a problem. Hey, it's the country...and it's sad that I think it's okay...but I am becoming a bit too country!
Anyway, you can only imagine our surprise as we drove up Custer Road towards Custer and saw cars parked all the way up and down the road. We were dumbfounded. This couldn't be for the little St. Patrick's Day dealio at Clancey's?!? Then we saw the floats...then the throng of people...then the Guinness truck...and the tent set up outside Clancey's...and we were stunned. How had we lived down the road for the last however many years and never knew that there was this huge St. Patrick's Day festival/parade/celebration in little ole Custer, WI!?!
Everyone was dressed up in green and other St. Patty's Day garb, there were Irish bulldogs, a green hearse for the mock Irish funeral, flags, football scarves, etc. You seriously would have laughed if you saw the dumbfounded looks on our faces. We headed to the tent...and got ourselves some Smithwicks'...they also had Guinness and Harp on tap outside...no green beer in sight (Apparently that is the POLISH way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day...as we were told.) And then we stepped into Clancey's and I was transported back to Ireland. I had studied abroad in the Spring of 2002 and lived in London. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland, Scotland, and Wales while I was in London...along with a two week tour of the continent. Clancey's Stone Lion reminded me of an Irish pub overseas. Beautiful wood bar, Strongbow & Guinness on tap, smooth Irish whiskeys...it was unreal. And we LOVED it. We kept asking each other, WHY HAVE WE NEVER STEPPED INTO CLANCEY'S BEFORE!?
Needless to say we had a lovely time and really enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day...we saw old friends there and just took in the whole experience...and we made a promise to visit Clancey's more often. The picture on this blog is of the actual parade...thank you Stevens Point Journal!
And on a a follow up note: I finally received the dress from Target that I wrote about in my last blog. I was so excited to get it and when I put it on...it looked terrible! Perry and I were both disappointed in the ill-fit of the dress. So I am going to send it back...and I am not going to go through the rig-a-ma-role of ordering a different size or getting it altered. I just don't think it is worth it...and then of course everywhere I look I see pictures or shows with people in one-sleeved dresses that look fabulous. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be AND it really proves how hard it is to buy clothing on the Internet. I have had the same problem with buying shoes as well.
1 comment:
That's hilarious that all of that was going on in little ole Custer. Can't wait to visit Clancey's when we come for country-bar tour girls weekend this summer!
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