After 15 years of training, St. Patrick was ordained as a priest and sent back to Ireland as a missionary. Famously credited with driving the snakes from Ireland it is more likely that this story was an analogy for his work to rid the country of its Pagan traditions.
March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, marks the day of his death around the year 460. Irish history and folklore abound on St. Patrick’s Day and everyone, it seems, has their own way of celebrating the big day.
Green is the color of the day on March 17 and families around town are turning everything from scrambled eggs to milk green for their morning breakfast. Boiled dinners with corn beef, potatoes, turnip, onion, carrots, and cabbage are the evening meal and, of course, green beer seems to be everyone’s beverage of choice.
Family takes a leading role on St. Patrick’s Day and, here in Wilmington, no family tradition is more well known that the annual O’Rocco’s celebration. For most of the year Rocco’s Restaurant is an Italian eatery, but has been easily making the transition to the Irish Pub O’Roccos in honor of St. Patrick’s Day for years.
As Denise DePasquale, wife of Rocco’s owner Chuck DePasquale, explained, “Chuck's father always said that it took an Italian man to marry an Irish woman to teach her how to cook a great corned beef and cabbage dinner!”
DePasquale went on, “Chuck and Matt take great pride in continuing their father's traditions and this is one of them.”
This year O’Rocco’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration is scheduled to last for two days, March 16 and 17, and will feature entertainment by George and Robin Godding from 5 to 10 p.m. on both nights. The restaurant expects to sell five hundred pounds of corned beef during the celebration and, of course, plenty of green beer too!
Be sure to check back with Wilmington Patch on Thursday when our weekly Patch Picks column features the best places in town to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
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