St. Patrick's Day Guide

Springfest 888-U-STOP-IN

www.shopspringtexas.com

Put a little Texas Spring in your Irish celebration at the ninth annual Springfest. Not only will there be beer, but also tasting stations for Texas wine as well as art and food.

St. Patrick Church 1010 35th Street, Galveston

409-762-9646

www.saintpatrickgalveston.org

Here's a place to start drinking early, and it'll be okay to have the kids along. There will be green beer, authentic Irish stew for everyone and even attractions for the kids. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a four-leaf clover sticking out from the sand. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Tavern on Gray 1340 W. Gray, 713-522-5152

www.TheTavernOnGray.com

When The Tavern titles a party a parking-lot blowout, you know you can expect sheer fun. A blowout couldn't really get going with just a one-day celebration, so this parking-lot party will be around for three days, from Thursday, March 15, through Saturday, March 17. There'll be a crawfish boil and live music every day. Oh, and lots o' beer.

Vito's Deck House 5810 Beverly Hill, 713-334-VITO

You know what you want on St. Patrick's Day -- lots o' green beer, live music and food. Vito's will have all of it with crawfish, beer specials and the crew from 103.7 FM to help move the party along.

Warehouse Live 813 St. Emanuel Street,

713-225-LIVE

www.warehouselive.com

If the idea of drinking green beer doesn't get you out of the house, then head over to catch a great concert with RJD2 instead. Doors open at 8 p.m., show's at 9 p.m.

Sunday, March 18

29th Annual Houston's Great Northwest St. Patrick's Day Parade Wells Fargo Bank, Houston

281-537-9106, www.1960parade.com

If you can't stop the party on Sunday, then head out to Champions Forest for yet another St. Patrick's Day parade. It doesn't start until 2 p.m., so you can be sure to sleep off your hangover and have one more day of being Irish. Last year there were more than 100 entries and 75,000 in attendance, so you can expect to be entertained. The parade route begins at the Wells Fargo parking lot on the corner of Champions Forest Drive and FM 1960 and closes at the corner of FM 1960 and Kuykendahl.