Milwaukee has a large Irish population. Not just people with Irish heritage, but first generation Irish and Irish nationals that are in the Milwaukee area on visa’s or working on their citizenship. I play hurling with quite a few native born Irish lads.

Milwaukee has a strong Irish tradition. That is thanks to the Irish large population and that fact that they’re organized and proud of their traditions. The ICHC (http://www.ichc.net/) hosts Irish events all the time, not just on this very special day.

You also have to keep in mind that Milwaukee is huge compared to Madison. There are several people in Madison that would love to drink all day, but probably not enough to convince the bars to open early. You also have to keep in mind that the local government is a bunch of nanny state social engineers that will frown upon any bar endorsing the consumption of alcohol. Kind of odd, I know. Bars that encourage binge drinking or righteous celebration with alcohol have a more difficult time getting their liquor license renewed.

Smaller city, smaller celebration. I also wouldn’t be so excited about green beer if I were you. By far the lamest gimmick on St. Pat’s day is green beer. It’s not cool. It’s just food coloring polluting an otherwise glorious beverage.

So, I’ll be honest here, I don’t know where to begin arguing with you here, but the above statistics seem like a good bit of information to be able to reference here. The first argument here seems to be that for every three drunken Irishmen in Milwaukee, there should be one in Madison. This may be true. But arguinging about this based on the bar times in the respective cities has more that one problem.

First of all, Milwaukee has a long, proud, and storied history of celebrating its roots. Go to the Milwaukee riverfront during the summer, and you shall find yourself in the middle of a fabulous celebration of one of the many ethnicities that make up the city, of which the Irish is but one (Irish Fest is August 14 – 17, 2008, for the record). You come to Madison, and the people are Wisconsinites, and damn proud of it. Personally, my roots can be traced back to England, Germany, and Norway; but if you ask, I was born and raised here, my folks were born and raised here, and my grandparents were born and raised here. We’re Americans and Wisconsinites, and thats how I believe most people around here think.

Secondly, you base your argument based on bar opening times. There are flaws with this argument as well. First of all, do Madison laws allow the bars to open that early? If they do, can they do so without problems from the neighborhood organizations in the area?

There are other arguments that could be made against this. I could argue (sadly enough) that in Madison the students manage to be drunk 24/7/365, making everyday an equivalent to Saint Patrick’s Day. I could point out that Madison had it’s official Saint Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday, which, while early. allowed more people to join in and recognize the spirit upon which the holiday is based upon. Otherwise, I could point out the Saint in Saint Patrick’s Day. Would a Catholic Saint really approve of drinking on the day in his honor, specifically this year, in the Holy Week? Or, you can take the opposite version of this. The legend of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland is true, if you replace “snakes” with “pagans”. Saint Patrick was probably the leading person in converting Ireland to Catholicism.

Honestly, after all of this, there are really only a few basic problems with the thought that Madison bars opening a few hours later than Milwaukee bars on Saint Patrick’s Day “ruins the ritual”.
A: This shows little respect for the history behind the holiday.
B: There is a significant cultural diference between the two towns.
C: As any UW undergrad would be happy to tell you, start drinking at 6,8, or 11, and you can still be drunk by noon.