Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Grand Ledge, Michigan
Grand Ledge, Michigan is a jewel of a town located on the Grand River just west of Michigan’s capital city, Lansing. It may seem like an unlikely place to celebrate all things Irish, but come next weekend, the entire town will be wearing the green proudly.
This year will be the Tenth Annual Grand Ledge St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Celebration and it takes over the entire town of just under 8,000 residents. Friday night begins the fun with traditional Irish dancing, bagpipe bands and a variety of Irish music groups performing at the historic Grand Ledge Opera House. Irish beverages will be served.
On Saturday the festivities begin with an Irish Stew Cook-off. The fun continues with a free movie at the Sun Theater and then the much-anticipated St. Patrick’s Day parade featuring drum and bagpipe bands, floats, the queen and her court and more. There is a dinner at 5:30 in the evening and later the music and dancing begin back at the Opera House and continue into the wee hours during the Pub Crawl. One of the most popular Irish music groups is the Pub Runners. They’ll sing songs and tell stories both Friday and Saturday.
Grand Ledge is famous for the sandstone and quartzite rock ledges that rise sixty feet above the Grand River banks. They are used today by rock climbers from all around the area. This historical area of the country was first inhabited by Pottawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa Indian tribal people who dug clams in the river and hunted for boar, deer, fox, turkey and bear. They fished for black bass in the river as well.
In the 1870’s Grand Ledge was a resort destination and boasted the lovely Seven Islands Resort where the first roller coaster in the state was built.
If you enjoy small town festivities, this is the place for you this weekend.
Grand Ledge, St. Patrick’s Day
