Shamrock the Block, Richmond’s annual St. Patrick’s Day festival, is moving from Shockoe Bottom to the Boulevard, and those who helped make the event what it is today aren’t happy.
Shamrock the Block, Richmond’s annual St. Patrick’s Day festival, is moving from Shockoe Bottom to the Boulevard, and those who helped make the event what it is today aren’t happy.
While working for Cox Radio, William “Mac” McCormack, now owner of McCormack’s Irish Pub, came up with the idea for Shamrock the Block 11 years ago.
“It was literally my idea. I worked at the radio station and came up with the idea. I worked in advertising and one of my clients was Budweiser, and they wanted an event that sold beer, so I came up with the idea,” McCormack said.
But Three One One Productions, the group planning the event nowadays, decided to move the festival without notifying all the Shockoe businesses. “I was kind of pissed because there was no discussion with anyone that is in the actual neighborhood, other than maybe a couple of people that didn’t share the information,” McCormack said.
McCormack speculates that Three One One may have felt some pressure from the City due to their plans for a Shockoe baseball stadium. “I think they’re just trying to avoid having any kind of negative press about the Bottom for the stadium. Which is ironic to me because all of the bad press for the Bottom the last few years has been because of lack of action on the City’s behalf.”
Another reason Three One One may want to move it is because of last year’s viral video of a fight involving a police officer. But Evan Matthews, owner of Kulture, said last year’s scandal didn’t happen because of Shocke Bottom.
“If the [police incident] was a driving force, that’s ridiculous because the whole event is people drinking anywhere. It shouldn’t be one apple spoils the whole bunch, as they say — that [incident] could’ve happened anywhere. It wasn’t because it [was] in the Bottom,” Matthews said.
The Boulevard getting a festival isn’t what’s troubling to McCormack and Matthews. It’s the fact that their festival is being taken from them.
“That’s been a huge day for us since the inception of the festival. It’s our festival, not the Boulevard’s festival, it’s Shamrock the Block in the Bottom… If you’re gonna do something on the Boulevard, that’s fine, but don’t take our festival – make another,” Matthews said. And McCormack’s personal brainchild is being taken from him.
“I approached the station with the idea based on the fact that it was in the middle of all the Irish pubs. That was the whole selling point for the event in the first place. I think part of the fun of the event is that there were so many little bars and restaurants you could go into,” McCormack said.
Whether it’s because of the police brutality scandal, excessive drinking, or the desire for a Shockoe Stadium, it seems like Three One One wants to make Shamrock the Block a more family-friendly event. On the other hand, Matthews feels they should be honest with themselves about the nature of the event.
“It’s not necessarily styled for families, per se. There’s a family area and all, but I mean – it’s a bar crawl, what do you expect? That’s what every St. Patrick’s Day festival in the country is about,” Matthews said.
