Tulsa's Irish Bars Prepare For St. Patrick's Day Weekend Parties

It's Saint Patrick's Day weekend and that means lots of events in downtown Tulsa to celebrate. With that comes several road closures for drivers to be aware of.

The tables are set and the beer is ready; it's St. Patrick's Day weekend in Tulsa. As usual, Cherry Street will shut down for Kilkenny's Block Party. That's on Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight.

But for Marie Mayer and her son Andy, the party has already started.

“This is one of three days,” Marie said.

They had lunch at Kilkenny’s on Friday, and now they're ready for their annual St. Patrick's Day weekend tradition.

"We're going to brew hop,” she said.

"Dead Armadillo. Nothing's Left. I mean, we're literally hitting as many as we can,” Andy said.

At McNellie's, employees are ready to kick off their block party on Saturday at 6:00, with more fun set for Sunday.

"I think it's one of the best weekends in Tulsa,” McNellie’s Group Founder and CEO Elliot Nelson said.

He said McNellie’s will have more than 100 kegs of beer for the weekend, with about half of those being Guinness kegs. On a normal weekend, he said, they'd go through about four kegs of Guinness.

"We pour imperial pints, which is the way they do it in Ireland,” Nelson said. “So traditional Irish pints in imperial is 20 ounces. So there's roughly 88 beers in each of those kegs."

Arnie's, which has been in Tulsa since 1956, is ready to celebrate its 68th St. Patrick's Day with a street party by the Blue Dome. Gates open at 10 a.m. on Sunday. 

With so much to do, eat and drink, Nelson says don't rely on luck to get you home.

“We just encourage people to be safe and responsible and take Uber if you're going to be having a beer,” he said.

The City of Tulsa shared this map showing road closures.

Bixby and Broken Arrow also have St. Patrick's Day events happening on Saturday.