Ways To Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day 2023 In Fairfax City

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — St. Patrick’s Day is on a Friday this year. Fairfax City restaurants and bars will be swimming in Kelly green, and perhaps flashing red and blue lights if people don’t behave themselves.

And devout Catholics may have to consult their parish priest before they dig into a plate of corned beef and cabbage.

The Washington Regional Alcohol Program's 2023 St. Patrick’s SoberRide program is planned between 4 p.m. Friday, March 17 and 4 a.m. on Saturday, March 18. Because the holiday is considered a high-risk time for intoxicated driving, the program will offer a Lyft ride up to $15.

Related: Free Sober Rides Offered For St. Patrick's Day 2023 In DC Region

Some of the places in Fairfax City to celebrate the March 17 holiday are:

• St. Patrick's Day at The Auld Shebeen: Fairfax City's own Irish pub, which is located at 3971 Chain Bridge Road, will be offering its usual selection of Irish fare and drinks on St. Patrick's Day. Diners will also be able to enjoy traditional Irish music by The Flying Cows of Ventry and Conor Malone. Tim Trant will also be performing from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for a St. Patrick's Day Luncheon.
• Cheers and Beers: Ornery Brewpub, which is located at 3950 University Drive in Fairfax, is celebrating St. Patrick's Day with the beer tapping of a dry Irish stout and Steal A Pint night. The Boyle School of Irish Dance will also perform at 6 p.m.
• St. Patrick's Day Special - Perfume/Cologne Workshop: DIY Scent Studios located at 4007 University Drive in Fairfax is hosting a workshop to help customers create their own Irish cologne/perfume. Tickets are available online.

Devout Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, a sacrifice that recognizes Jesus’ death on the cross on a Friday. Catholics in several suburban Chicago towns can eat the traditional fare without guilt, but the Diocese of Chicago is holding firm.

Whether revelers in cities like heavily Catholic Chicago, one of the most St. Patrick-y cities in the country, go all in with the holiday staple corned beef and cabbage could come down to whether they get special dispensation from the diocese.

Catholic revelers from Fairfax City will be happy to learn that Bishop Michael F. Burbage of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, which includes Fairfax County, is granting dispensation from the abstinence from meat on March 17 this year. This extends to any Catholics who are in the diocese during St. Patrick's Day.

"Those taking advantage of this dispensation, however, are exhorted to undertake a work of charity, an exercise of piety, or an act of comparable penance on some other occasion during the Third Week of Lent," according to the diocese website.

There are some Lenten fish fries in the area going on for Catholics who want to play it by the rules.

• Saint James Lenten Fish Fry: Food service is open from 5-8 p.m. for drive-thru or in person dining at Saint James Catholic Church at 905 Park Ave. in Falls Church
• OLGC Lenten Fish Fry: Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church at 8601 Wolftrap Road in Vienna hosts a weekly Lenten fish fry from 4-7 p.m. on Friday. Dine-in at DeSales Hall and the carry-out entrance is at the glass doors to DeSales Hall. Carry-out can be ordered online in advance.