For the past 70 years, many students have excitedly awaited the Wednesday before spring break almost as much as they anticipated the impending week off. This year, the annual celebration known as Green Beer Day is March 5 and will mark over seven decades of tradition.
The first Green Beer Day was celebrated in 1952 in Athens’ rival town of Oxford, Ohio, as a de facto St. Patrick’s Day party. Although the tradition will always be traced back to the home of Miami University, Bobcats soon claimed the holiday for themselves.
“If there's one thing Miami got right, it's Green Beer Day,” wrote The Post Editorial Board in 2009. “If they want to dress in OU colors and vomit into uptown urinals at 5:30 in the morning, who are we to stop them? We can't help it if everyone's catching green fever. Green Beer Day is like the college equivalent of a 24-hour, beer-induced Freudian slip, and the message is clear: OU rules. Miami sucks.”
This Wednesday, students and locals will parade onto Court Street as early as 8 a.m. to indulge in green-tinted beer and St. Patrick’s Day adjacent festivities.
“I think having an event that relates to St. Patrick’s Day here in Athens for students to go out and celebrate is really big, and it just helps to increase that party atmosphere that OU is known for,” said Vince Debeljak, a junior studying music production and recording industry.
Debeljak is the head of Brick Life Entertainment, an event promotion company that ensures bars, house parties, fests and events like Green Beer Day are never without a DJ. To the best of Debeljak’s recollection, Brick Life has been involved in the Green Beer Day celebration since the company's founding in 2017.
“All of our playlists shift with the seasons,” he said. “For Green Beer Day, if I’m DJing I’m playing ‘Shipping Up to Boston.’ There definitely will be a little bit more Irish and a little bit more stringy, violin-type songs that will make you jig.”
In addition to St. Patrick’s Day-themed dancing, partygoers can expect deals on colorful ales. Although many establishments have yet to decide on the details of their discounts, The Pigskin Bar and Grille, located at 38 N. Court St., promises cheaper prices on their domestic beer pitchers and deals such as the Angry Leprechaun – a green apple-flavored BeatBox in the neighborhood of $5.
Kayla Park, a senior studying intervention specialist dual license, has worked at The Pigskin for almost two years. Last year, Park worked in the kitchen for Green Beer Day and saw firsthand that the holiday is a big occasion for drinking, but not so much for dining (despite the restaurant’s specialty green beer cheese). Park now works as a bartender and noted the building will be opening early for the Wednesday festivities.
“We’re going to have a couple kegs with green beer and we will be opening at 11 a.m. that day,” Park said.
Risa has bartended at The Pub Bar & Grill, located at 39 N. Court St., for five years and has witnessed many Green Beer Days from behind the counter.
“It’s usually really fun,” she said. “I always enjoy it because everybody is in a good mood, and it gets wild … everybody’s in high spirits, it’s a fun holiday.”
The bartender’s favorite part of the day is seeing green dye accentuating patrons’ mouths, complementing their shamrock necklaces and Ohio University paraphernalia. Some bars dye their brews manually, while others opt for pre-dyed kegs or green beer on tap. No matter the method of greenifying their beverages, each bar celebrates the day differently and often in keeping with years of tradition.
“I’ve seen everything change except for (Green Beer Day),” Risa said. “I feel like that’s the only thing that’s stayed consistent because it’s simple.”
Although the atmosphere surrounding Green Beer Day hasn’t changed, some party incentives that exemplify this festive energy have come and gone. A 2010 edition of The Post advertised a raffle at Red Brick Tavern, located at 14 N. Court St., for a “3 day & 2 night trip to Vegas” in honor of Green Beer Day. Although many Bobcats would jump at the chance for an all-inclusive trip to The Strip, the only changes Debeljak is looking to make is to keep the party growing.
“We have reached out to a couple different bars to try and get DJs in different places, just to hype it up a little bit more,” he said. “We know Green Beer Day is typically a bar day, not a house party day, so we’re trying to put together as many DJs as we can and put them in different bars to have that increased presence and hype power.”
