In a town already painted green, a street brimming with people in shades of lime, emerald and olive is nothing out of the ordinary. However, on one day every year – the Wednesday before Ohio University’s spring break – this horde of students marks a special occasion: Green Beer Day has arrived in Athens.
Across the street from The J Bar, located at 41 N Court St., where the familiar tunes of “Rattlin’ Bog” and “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” blared from wide open doors, members of Kappa Alpha Zeta were selling Chick-fil-A sandwiches to support the professional fraternity and feed hungry revelers.
“We were planning on doing it this week anyway and then … it matched up with Green Beer Day,” Josephine O’Neill, a senior studying media arts production and marketing, said. “It worked out really perfectly and we’re hoping to get a lot of sales.”
Although she spent this year’s Green Beer Day behind a fundraising table, O’Neill has thoroughly enjoyed the holiday during previous celebrations.
“Green Beer Day is my favorite holiday,” she said. “Everyone is willing to go out on this day and just have a good time, and it’s all day so even the professors are like, ‘Just go, have a good time,’ and I love that.”
According to O’Neill, the Court Street crowd grew in the early afternoon. For some, the celebration began much earlier in the day. Josh Lundgren, a senior studying environmental studies, and Austin Gibson, a senior studying business analytics and finance, began their day at 11 a.m.
“We were at Pub earlier, and I had to take a break to take a quiz and then go back out,” Gibson said, committed to the true spirit of the holiday.
Similarly, Lundgren planned to take a break in the evening for rugby practice. Besides these short reprieves, the men anticipated staying on Court Street until the bars closed for the night.
The second stop for Lundgren and Gibson was Lucky’s Sports Tavern, located at 11 N. Court St. The bar featured deals such as a $2 Leprechaun Shot, green mimosa pitchers for $5 and Green Budweiser and Michelob Ultra on draft all day.
Although it wasn’t their first Green Beer Day, the 2025 celebration was extra special for the two seniors who were enjoying the revelry for the last time.
“It’s hard to get this many people out day-drinking, so making it an event makes it fun,” Lundgren said.
Aside from the communal nature of the activity, Lundgren enjoys the holiday for the part of it found right in the name.
“It’s hard to find green beer,” Lundgren said. “It tastes better, it’s got more flavor to it.”
Green Beer Day is marked by all of the same traditions as St. Patrick’s Day, from the color of the beer to the shamrock-adorned shot glasses attached to Gibson’s suspenders. However, Green Beer Day is typically celebrated before St. Patrick’s Day, allowing for a larger turnout to the festivities.
“St. Patrick’s Day always jumps around,” Lundgren said. “This is like a St. Patrick’s Day where everybody can make it.”
During his mid-afternoon stop at Lucky’s, with a green tint on his lips and a pint of green beer in hand, Gibson summarized the essence of Green Beer Day in a testament applicable to most holidays that call for day-drinking and plastic pearls.
“It’s stupid, but it’s fun,” he said.
