Article Title: McGillicuddy's Pub To be At Epicenter of Saint Patrick's Day Langdon Street Celebration

Edition: March 2001
Category: Dining Out
Author: Nat Frothingham
Article:

For the past three years Saint Patrick's Day has been a very big event at McGillicuddy's Irish Pub on Langdon Street in Montpelier and the lines of people waiting to get inside have spilled out into the street.

"Saint Patrick's Day has got progressively bigger and bigger," said owner Dave Nelson a tall, fit-looking man in his late thirties who was wearing his trademark Yankees baseball cap. Nelson's a Montpelier native who played forward for three years on the Montpelier High School varsity basketball team. Later he went on to play on the starting five at Rhode Island's Roger Williams College. He describes himself as a "sports fanatic."

On the morning he talked with The Bridge the pub hadn't opened for the day. Nelson was sitting at a booth poring over accounts and writing checks and his head chef Brian Links who's been with the pub since it opened in 1996 was seated at the corner of the bar. The talk was all about this year's Saint Patrick's Day, this year a three-day affair that promises to be the biggest ever.

"This is going to be a huge event," said Nelson. It will start on Friday morning of Saint Patrick's Day Eve at 8:00 a.m. with a breakfast of eggs, bacon, home fries and bagels, all served in buffet style. The festivities will end on Sunday night.

But the biggest moment will be Saturday, March 17, Saint Patrick's Day itself beginning at 12 noon when Langdon Street will be closed to traffic and when throngs of merrymakers will enjoy eating, drinking, music and dancing indoors at McGillicuddy's and outdoors under large heated tents on Langdon Street. Those who join in the celebration will enjoy a traditional Irish meal of corned beef & cabbage served throughout the day. Music will include two Irish bands: Sarah Blair, Eamon Fly and Mance Grady playing Irish jigs and reels from 1-3 p.m. and "Scatter the Mud" playing spirited Celtic music from 5-7 p.m. The classic rock band "Native Son" will shake the timbers from 8-11 p.m.

Nelson's an old hand at the bar business. He worked in the Burlington nightclub business for 10 years before he opened McGillicuddy's in Montpelier. During those ten years he commuted back and forth from Montpelier.

At the same time he began to notice just how difficult it was in Montpelier to get a drink and a sandwich after 10 p.m. And he wondered if there just might be an opening for the sort of place he describes as "a neighborhood pub."

Nelson can remember his dad taking him as a kid to a Boston Red Sox game. Before the game, his dad had a beer and a sandwich at a place near Fenway Park, a friendly, local spot.

This was the sort of ambiance Nelson wanted to create at McGillicuddy's, a place that was at once a restaurant, a sports bar, an after-work meeting place. He wanted the sort of establishment where you could have a meal, talk with friends, shoot pool, and watch football, basketball, and baseball in season, or just relax past midnight until the place closed down at 2 a.m.

Now, after almost five years on Langdon Street, Nelson is ready to declare McGillicuddy's a complete business success. "It's greatly exceeded our expectations," he said proudly.

Depending on the season, the pub is crowded with sports enthusiasts tracking football, for example, on six separate TV screens. It's common for patrons to be following the Packers on one screen, the Rams on another and the Giants on a third.

Nelson credits his wife Stacey for tipping him off several years ago to the fact that Edson's print shop, long a Montpelier establishment, would be going out of business. Nelson looked at the print shop with its mirrors, shelves and wood details. It was in rough shape but he could picture a neighborhood pub: the bar against one wall, the pool table in back, the booths against the other wall.

Looking around the pub, Nelson said, "All this old woodwork was here." When his architects Gossman & Bachman looked at the old print shop they confirmed his assessment saying, "You got 'old' -- you might as well go with it."

Many of the details from Edson's print shop along with historic photographs of Montpelier's past, give McGillicuddy's an unmistakable feeling of place and permanence. While it's a neighborhood pub and a sports bar, McGillicuddy's has also been the favored place to have a meal or refreshments before or after weddings, funerals and other ceremonial events.

But back to the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. McGillicuddy's is ordering 400 pounds of corned beef. For drinks, there'll be Black & Tan, that's half Guinness and half Harp Lager. Then there's a prize of a 5-day, 4-night trip for two to Ireland courtesy of Guinness, Calmont Beverage and Macpherson Travel. "I'd like to win the trip!" said Nelson enthusiastically. Then his voice dropped. He's the owner. "No, they won't let me."

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