Yea, I know, I didn’t believe it either but according to WalletHub, it’s true!
St Patrick’s Day is next Friday and by most accounts it’s day where “everyone is Irish”. Let’s be real, it’s an excuse to drink yourself stupid. In fact as American’s, we take it upon ourselves to just make things up, like the St. Patrick’s Day parades, green beer and corned beef and cabbage. Spoiler alert: Not Irish traditions, but we’ll come up with any reason to throw back a few.
WalletHub just released a list with 200 of the largest cities across 15 areas of the country that are supposed to be the best places to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, which is funny since most people don’t know the real history, but I digress.
WalletHub based their research on things like the number of Irish pubs, weather forecasts on March 17th, parades and parties, the average price of beer and the lowest price for a hotel room that’s at least a 3-star joint.
Not much surprise that Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago are the top three, at least as far as traditions, but I would dare to question the weather and the cost! What I wanted to know is what, if any, cities in Tennessee and Kentucky made the cut. The answer is yes! Here’s what I found:
#32 Knoxville, TN
#88 Lexington, KY
#97 Louisville, KY
#101 Clarksville, TN
#160 Nashville, TN
#187 Chattanooga, TN
#198 Memphis, TN
Woohoo! We’re number (one hundred and) One!
But seriously, how? Since O’Connors closed down last year, which was thee Irish pub, what else do we have here? I don’t know of any other Irish pub in town. In fact, when it comes to bars, we have an awesome selection of dive bars, and only a handful of bigger places. The closest parade is in Erin, TN about 30 minutes away, so what gives?
According to the rankings on this weirdness, Clarksville came in 101st overall, but the breakdowns put our scores at 137 with traditions, 39 with costs, 22 with safety and accessibility and 160 with weather, giving an average score of 46.2. Yea, I don’t know what that means either, outside of costs, safety and accessibility being better than most. Perhaps they also factored in Fort Campbell and the 101st and that’s why we rank at 101st?
To me it all come back to it being a day where everyone just wants to have a reason to party…err…celebrate. Ok, get shmammered, let’s be honest. If you are however looking for some actual Irish traditions to celebrate, check out the Winter Fun Guide on ClarksvilleNow.com and you will find a week’s worth of activities happening down the road in Erin starting tomorrow, March 10th.
Slainte!
