SAINT PATRICK’S BEFORE THE FESTIVAL 

Saint Patrick’s Day was not celebrated in Dublin in the rest of Georgia for many years.  Every once in a while kid’s parties had a Saint Patrick’s theme.  The refined ladies of the South often used it as a theme for their social gathering

On Saint Patrick’s Day in 1931, a news story came out of Dublin on the UP wire that Patrick Ireland stepped into the Marine Corps recruiting office in Dublin and failed his eye test to qualify for enlistment.  Ireland reportedly could not pass the test because he could not see the color green.  This quite unbelievable story was verified by Sergeant C.R. Bumgras, Lieutenant J.R. Whiting, and Sergeant Dewey C. Moore.

The oldest known local celebration of Saint Patrick in Dublin came in 1931 during a bridge party held by Mrs. George T. Morris.  The decorations included jonquils, hyacinths and shamrocks.  Two years later the kindergarteners of Frances Webb held a St. Patrick’s party.  

Dick Killebrew, Festival Founder 

In 1953, Dublin Mayor, Herschel Lovett, told reporters that Dublin didn’t celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day because there were not enough Irish people around.  In a complete turnaround thirteen years later, Lovett’s newspaper, the Dublin Courier Herald, spearheaded the organization of a Saint Patrick’s Festival.  The paper has become an integral part of the annual festival ever since.  The members of Post 17 of the American Legion paid no attention to Lovett’s negative ways and held the first Saint Patrick’s dance at the legion hall.  The event was held as a fund raiser for the local legion boy’s baseball team.  

Toward the end of the 1950s, several fraternal organization began to hold dances to celebrate their Irish heritage.  Of course, their were people who had no Irish roots dancing the night away just for fun.  In March 1961, theDublin Exchange Club sponsored the first St. Patrick’s luncheon, a fete which would become a important part of each year’s celebration.  Mrs. C.W. Crump told the story of Saint Patrick.  Peggy Miller sang several Irish songs.  That same year, the Women of the Moose Club started the annual tradition of a dinner dance to be held in the beginning at the Moose Club.  

The March 17 celebration started in 1631 when the Church established a Feast Day honoring St. Patrick. He had been Patron Saint of Ireland who had died around the fifth century—a whopping 12 centuries before the modern version of the holiday was first observed.

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Roman Britain in the late 4th century, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but returned about 432 CE to convert the Irish to Christianity. By the time of his death on March 17, 461, he had established monasteries, churches, and schools. Many legends grew up around him—for example, that he drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Ireland came to celebrate his day with religious services and feasts.

In March 1964, Dublin was beginning to participate in a new tourism campaign of “Stay and See Georgia.”  Dublin mayor, Leroy Price, in praising the historic points within the county, Price proclaimed, “Our city’s name Dublin has a natural built-in potential for a week or weekend’s celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day which could develop into an annual event attracting statewide visitors if not from all over the United States.”

Mayor Price’s challenge was taken up by the parishioners of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church who held a large dinner of home cooked turkeys, hams, casseroles, salads, cakes and rolls all for the price of $1.50 a plate.  The meal would become a fixture for the Catholic and Episcopal Church throughout the festival’s history.

Charles Tenant volunteered to begin preparations for an annual celebration.  Not satisfied with the local football stadium, the Shamrock Bowl, and a few businesses with Irish names.  Tenant initiated conversations to arrange an annual festival on a grand scale.  

It started out as a passing thought. Many great ideas do.  Fifty seven  years ago this month, the very first Dublin Georgia Saint Patrick’s Festival began.  Billed as the longest celebration of Irish heritage in the world, with the possible exception of the mother country of Irishmen everywhere, the festival has been a time when all Dubliners and Laurens Countians can enjoy the revelry, fun and festive atmosphere of the land of Erin.   The festival is all about traditions, traditions of heritage, harmony and merriment.

Though it is the oldest Dublin in the United States and in 1966, the largest Dublin in the country, Dublin, Georgia had no St. Patrick’s Festival.  Dick Killebrew,  radio station W.M.L.T.’s morning radio personality celebrated St. Patrick’s day by playing Irish music and telling Irish stories and jokes.  Gradually it occurred to Killebrew that the city needed to have a celebration of its Irish heritage. After all he was in Dublin.   He enlisted the aid of Ed Hilliard, the station manager, and with the help of Anne Everly, Joann DiFazio, and other members of the station’s staff, the wheels were set in motion.  W.H. Champion, editor of the Dublin Courier Herald, was asked to join in the establishment of the festival.  Representatives of civic clubs were invited to join Killebrew, Hilliard, Champion and their staffs, and on January 31, 1966, the St. Patrick’s Festival was official born. 

The first event of the first St. Patrick’s Festival was Antique Show, sponsored by the Dublin Service League.  The fair in its second year hoped to draw a host of out of town visitors to the National Guard Armory on March 9th and 10th.  Next the Dublin Fine Arts Association sponsored  a sidewalk art contest. The mothers and fathers of students of Susie Dasher School entertained a large crowd with a pick up basketball game at the Oconee High School gym.  The fifth event on the schedule was one of the most popular events in the  history of the festival.  The Exchange Club of Dublin put on its first annual pancake supper in the cafeteria of Central Elementary School..  After the pancake supper, came the forerunner of the Ball and Bash.  Band leader Ted Weems and his orchestra provided musical entertainment at a dance held at the Moose Club.  

         The Kiwanis Club sponsored the first Leprechaun Contest and a  movie at the Martin Theater. Washington Street School sponsored a Fashion Show at the school.  As the festival progressed toward a climax, the first Joint Civic Luncheon was held at the Elks Club with music by the DHS Chorus.  St. Patrick’s Day ended with the first Irish Stew Supper at the American Legion Hall.  The Dublin Jaycees sponsored the Miss Dublin Pageant.  The festival culminated with the first parade and the first teen dance on Saturday which would become known as Super Saturday.

The St. Patrick’s Festival has changed and grown over the years.  The classic events have been preserved and  are still celebrated and enjoyed forty years later.  Times have changed and new events come and go.