Green Beer Sunday kicks off St. Patrick’s Day season in Syracuse

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Hundreds gathered at Coleman’s Authentic Irish Pub on Sunday to enjoy a parade, live music and green beer from the pub’s iconic 10,000-gallon tanker truck in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, as they have yearly for more than 60 years.

“St. Patrick’s day has really become a season in Syracuse,” the pub’s owner Dennis Coleman said. “Seeing the crowds is humbling, just knowing that all of these people came out to your place on a Sunday afternoon.”

Hosted in Tipperary Hill, Green Beer Sunday kicks off the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Syracuse. The day began with a short parade to Coleman’s that started at the intersection of Tompkins Street and Milton Avenue, where Tipperary Hill’s famous upside down stoplight hangs. The parade is about as long as the walk between Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center and Carnegie Library.

Coleman’s father, Peter Coleman, started the tradition in the early 1960s to create a celebration that he and his coworkers could take part in.

“When you work at a bar, you can’t really go out and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, so he and the guys that worked here thought it would be cool to start their own tradition so that they could get out and enjoy it,” Coleman said.

Peter retired after 57 years and left the pub to his son before he died in 2021. Decades after its creation, Coleman carries on his father’s tradition on the last Sunday of each February.

Linda Lou, a lifelong Syracuse resident and avid Green Beer-attendee, said she loves the day’s festivity. Hundreds of community members gathered to create a sea of green in the streets, with many chatting with friends, family and strangers as they waited to enter the pub.

“It brings the whole community together,” Lou said. “The younger people may be (in the pub) and the older ones may be (outside the pub), but it still brings us all to the same place.”

Maxine Brackbill | Photo Editor

At the end of Coleman’s Green Beer parade, participants gather around the outdoor bar to socialize while sipping green beer. Attendees were adorned in green outfits and costumes.

Green Beer Sunday has evolved over the years, Coleman said. Current trademarks of the event, such as the live music performance — this year by central New York party band Mere Mortals — and the selection of “Miss Green Beer,” who is chosen by the Coleman family to march in the parade, are recent additions to the celebration.

“First it was just inside, and then we moved it to the inside and the lower lot, and now it’s inside, in the lower lot and in the upper lot,” Coleman said. “It’s just one of those things that kept growing and growing.”

The parade began at noon and featured various acts such as bagpipe players, Irish step dancers, the green beer truck and the grand marshal, who was chosen by Coleman to pour the first green beer of the day. Charlie Miller, a journalist for syracuse.com and an adjunct professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, wore a scally cap, green beer tie and grand marshal sash as this year’s pick.

Linda Walker, a member of the Syracuse Scottish Pipe Band, has been performing in the parade for 12 years. Since joining, she has enjoyed watching it “get bigger and bigger.”

“I love the parade,” Walker said. “There’s a whole group of us who only get to see each other during this parade. It’s nice that we get to play together.”

The Tipp Hill community itself loves the event, Walker said. Not only does Green Beer Sunday mark the St. Patrick’s Day season, but also signifies the beginning of spring.

Coleman shared a similar sentiment, saying Syracuse residents look forward to the event after being “cooped up” over winter. He said that Green Beer Sunday is something that most, if not all, people “can get behind.”

“Everybody likes to go out and have a good time, and it’s really just an excuse to do that,” Coleman said. “Over the years it has evolved into a celebration of Tipperary Hill, and now it has really become a celebration of Syracuse.”