Party pics: St. Patrick’s Day Block Party
The streets around Murphy’s Bar & Grill were packed with thousands of merrymakers dressed in green Thursday night for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Block Party, the largest of its kind in the Pacific. While not quite as packed as last year, an impressive number of people from around the world crowded into the lower parts of Nuuanu Avenue, Marin Lane and Merchant Street to take advantage of the beer and food stations and generally just to party hard.
Nonstop’s Ed Morita captured the colorful early scene, which began in the parking lot at noon, and Tracy Chan stayed until 10 p.m. to capture the night crowd. Nonstop contributor Dallas Nagata also attended the party and offered us a few stunning shots.
The block party, hosted by Murphy’s, started inside the Irish pub in 1988, and has been picking up steam and expanding ever since. This year, a stage on Nuuanu and King featured live music with Celtic rock band Doolin’ Rakes and blues/rock band Elephant, and both Murphy’s and O’Tooles across the street hosted live bands inside.
Here’s a video of the Doolin’ Rakes performing, by Ed Morita:
