- Dates
- 1977-03-17 – 1977-03-20
- Kind
- Celebration
- Where
- Holy Cross Parish Hall · Holy Cross Catholic Church building
- Carried out by
- Holy Cross Catholic Church
- Followed by
- St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1978
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- celebrationcommunityheritageirish-arranmore
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The Beaver Beacon’s February 1977 issue announces, and its April 1977 issue confirms, an unusually large multi-day St. Patrick’s program on Beaver Island — billed in advance as “the busiest St. Patrick’s holiday yet” — spanning a Thursday-through-Sunday calendar of children’s games, a Mass and parish Pot-Luck Dinner, a hall dance, a snowmobile safari and race, sleigh and hay rides, an Irish Brunch and Smorgasbord, ecumenical participation from the Beaver Island Christian Church, and live music and dancing at the Shamrock.
Program
Noon hot lunch and harbor games/races for children; 5:00 p.m. special Mass at Holy Cross Church; Parish Pot-Luck Dinner; Holy Cross St. Pat’s Day Dance at the hall (9:00 p.m.). Friday: grade-school horse-drawn sleigh ride, adult snowmobile safari, a Beaver Island Christian Church Pancake Supper, and a hay ride. Saturday: Irish Brunch at the Beaver Lodge, adult snowmobilers competing for the “St. Pat’s title of Race - King,” a Circle M Smorgasbord featuring beef and cabbage, and live music and dancing at the Shamrock. Sunday: Junior Class Pancake Breakfast at the Christian Church and a 10:00 a.m. Ecumenical Service at Holy Cross led by Fr. Alvin Yard with Phil Gregg. Also announced: a snow sculpture contest and a Bicentennial-project raffle (“Basket of Joy”).
Evidence limits
Both the announcement and the after-the-fact report are contemporary Beacon
items; the outcome report largely confirms the announced schedule but is a
summary account, not an attendance count or financial record, and does not
individually confirm every announced element (e.g. the snow sculpture contest
and raffle outcome are not mentioned in the April follow-up). The February
1977 issue’s announcement of the 23rd Annual St. Patrick’s Party for the
benefit of Holy Cross Church, held March 5, 1977 at St. Kevin’s Church Hall in
Chicago, describes a separate event tracked in
St. Patrick's Party for Holy Cross Church, Chicago, not this island program.
took_place_at lists both Holy Cross Church (Mass, Ecumenical Service) and
Holy Cross Parish Hall (Pot-Luck Dinner, dance) as the two named parish venues;
the Shamrock, Beaver Lodge, and Circle M also hosted named parts of the
program but only the Shamrock has an existing structure article
(The Shamrock), which is added to See also though not to
took_place_at given the event’s primary parish anchoring.
Open questions
- What was the outcome of the announced snow sculpture contest and the Bicentennial “Basket of Joy” raffle?
- Who won the snowmobilers’ “St. Pat’s title of Race - King”?
See also
Sources
- Announces "the busiest St. Patrick's holiday yet": a noon hot lunch and harbor games/races for children on St. Pat's Day itself, a 5:00 p.m. special Mass at Holy Cross Church followed by a Parish Pot-Luck Dinner and the "Holy Cross St. Pat's Day Dance at the hall" beginning at 9:00 p.m.; Friday grade-school sleigh ride, adult snowmobile safari, a Beaver Island Christian Church Pancake Supper, and a hay ride; Saturday morning Irish Brunch at the Beaver Lodge and an adult snowmobilers' "St. Pat's title of Race - King"; Circle M Saturday Smorgasbord with beef and cabbage, concluding at "the traditional Shamrock's St. Pat's Party"; Sunday Junior Class Pancake Breakfast at the Christian Church and a 10:00 a.m. Ecumenical Service at Holy Cross; a snow sculpture contest and a Bicentennial-project raffle. The same issue separately announces the 23rd Annual St. Patrick's Party for the benefit of Holy Cross Church, held March 5, 1977 in Chicago — a distinct event, see event/st-patricks-party-for-holy-cross-chicago. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-02_Beaver-Beacon
- The held eighteen-page combined-issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the advance program notice.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1977-02_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports the outcome: "A three day calendar of events was carried out to the enjoyment of all who attended." Thursday: hot dog lunch and games for the kids on the ferry dock, a Pot Luck Dinner at the hall with dancing afterwards. Friday: hay rides for the kids and a Pancake Supper at the Beaver Island Christian Church. Saturday: an Irish Brunch at the Beaver Lodge, an Irish Smorgasbord at the Circle M, and live music and dancing at the Shamrock. Sunday: an Ecumenical Service at Holy Cross and a Pancake Breakfast at the Christian Church. "The busy week-end was deemed a success with a substantial number of off-island visitors taking part." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-04_Beaver-Beacon
- The held twelve-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the reported St. Patrick’s weekend outcome.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1977-04_Beaver-Beacon
Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1977”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-st-patricks-day-1977/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, February and March 1977, "St. Patrick's Day Activities on Beaver Island." (and 3 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1977”RIS for “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1977”