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Event

St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 2004

Also 2004 Beaver Island St. Patrick's Day Games

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date2004-03-20
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
2004-03-20
Kind
Celebration
Where
The Shamrock
Followed by
St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 2005
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunityheritageirish-arranmore
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The Beaver Beacon’s February 2004 issue advertises “the famous Beaver Island St. Patrick’s Day Games held at the Shamrock” for March 20th; its April 2004 issue reports the outcome under “St. Patrick’s Day Festivities”: a downtown tug o’war, a multi-person-ski cart race, and a fish toss, with photographs of each held in front of the Shamrock.

Program

Saturday afternoon events centered downtown and at the Shamrock: a tug o’war between the “hay-seeders” and their opponents (essentially a dead heat with a disputed decision awarded to the hay-seeders, since no one had counted the tuggers on each side), a cart race involving multi-person skis, tire jumps, and “rosy ring-arounds,” and a fish toss won by Jeremy McBain of the Charlevoix Courier, whose competitors accused him of using a bagpipe lullaby to lull them into complacency.

Evidence limits

Both sources are contemporary Beacon items — an announcement and an after-the-fact illustrated report — rather than an attendance count or financial record. The February 2004 issue’s announcements for the Chicago Club’s party and the Grand Rapids club’s February 14th celebration describe separate diaspora events, tracked in St. Patrick's Party for Holy Cross Church, Chicago, not this island edition.

Open questions

  • How many years had the Shamrock games format (tug o’war, cart race, fish toss) been running by 2004, and when did it supersede the earlier parish-hall dinner/dance format documented in the 1955-1976 editions?

See also

Sources

  1. Beaver Beacon, February 2004, calendar and party notices.
    Announces: "St. Patrick's Day will be celebrated on the Island on March 20th and of course the famous Beaver Island St. Patrick's Day Games held at the Shamrock are an event not to be missed!" The same issue separately advertises the Chicago Club's St. Patrick's Day party and the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids' celebration (February 14th that year), both distinct diaspora events covered by event/st-patricks-party-for-holy-cross-chicago. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2004-02_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held thirty-six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2004-02_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Beaver Beacon, April 2004, "St. Patrick's Day Festivities."
    Reports the outcome under the heading "St. Patrick's Day Festivities": Saturday afternoon downtown events including a tug o'war ("the hay-seeders" declared winners in a disputed decision), a multi-person-ski cart race, and a fish toss won by the Charlevoix Courier's Jeremy McBain amid accusations of gamesmanship involving bagpipes. Includes several photographs of the tug-o-war, fish toss, and a cart race in front of the Shamrock. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2004-04_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held thirty-six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2004-04_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Beaver Beacon posts preserve advance discussion of the March 20 games and a later photo thread. They corroborate that the island festivities were actively announced and documented in the community forum, but do not independently establish attendance or alter the April Beacon account.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive-2026-08-04 · data · forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000140
  6. The photo thread preserves the later community documentation of the event; it does not independently establish attendance or alter the April Beacon account.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive-2026-08-04 · data · forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000142

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 2004”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-st-patricks-day-2004/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, February 2004, calendar and party notices. (and 5 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.

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