HUNTINGTON -- Crank up the Flogging Molly, put the corn beef and cabbage in the crock pot, grab your Irish Road Bowling ball and let's get this St. Paddy's Day party started.

With St. Patrick's Day marching in next week, we've got a dozen good ways to go green and to celebrate Irishness your way -- from wild to mild.

Here are a few good ways to spring into St. Paddy's Day on Wednesday as well as this weekend for those true Irish folk who can't wait to get their dance on.

One night, Two-Man Gentlemen Band

With a name like Shamrock's Pub, 2050 3rd Ave., this campus bar and live music venue could simply prop open the door, lay a heavy hand on the Guinness tap and green beer kegs and call it a St. Patrick's Day party.

Oh, no. Shamrock's has scored the raucous, New York City-based, jazzy string band the Two-Man Gentlemen Band, the quirky 1920s and '30s-juiced group that isn't afraid of any subject matter from fancy beer and reefer mathematics to rabbit meat and William Howard Taft.

The group, which just released its fourth CD, "Live in New York," will rip up Shamrocks on Wednesday, March 17. Doors open at noon, and the show starts about 8 p.m. Go online at www.myspace.com/twomangentlemenband.

A big Mac attack

Mac-Reedo's, 745 7th Ave., Huntington, is attacking St. Patrick's Day like Marshall University basketball player Hassan Whiteside destroys shots in the paint. All day and all night, baby.

Mac-Reedo's is kicking off St. Paddy's Day with breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. with a menu featuring Irish coffee, bloody Mary's, green eggs and ham and Irish potatoes. For lunch and dinner, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., the kitchen will be serving up shepherd's pie, Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips and some cultural mash-ups like "Celtic Nachos."

The cozy neighborhood pub also is sponsoring a slew of $50 contests including Hottest Legs in a Kilt, Sexiest Irish Stems, Best Irish Jig, Best Green Outfit and Best Irish Garb.

If that's not enough Irishness for you, they'll also bring out the bagpipes Wednesday night and have the bar stocked with all things Irish from Jameson and Bushmill to Guinness.

Call 304-523-4266.

Go FOOTMAD in Charleston

You can get the Irish party started early at 8 p.m. Saturday as the FOOTMAD (Friends of Old-time Music and Dance) present "A Celtic Music Celebration" featuring two of West Virginia's favorite Celtic music ensembles -- the all-women Celtic group Mountain Thyme out of Charleston and the Greenbrier County-based Poteen, a four-person band that plays some 14 different musical instruments, including Irish pipes, flutes and the bodhran, the Irish drum.

Tickets are $20, $15 for seniors and $10 for students for the show at the West Virginia Culture Center. Call 304-415-3668 or visit www.footmad.org for more information. Tickets will be available at the box office, opening at 7 p.m., on the evening of the concert.

Get your green thumb growing

You can go green this weekend by rooting around for some good gardening info at the 2010 WSAZ Home and Garden Show set up in the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

Get great ideas on everything from gutters and windows to landscaping and log cabins as more than 120 vendors pile inside for the show.

Also be sure to stop by the Kids Adventure Garden sponsored by the Huntington Garden Club, Bob's Market & Greenhouse, Green Clovers 4-H Club, Good News Llamas and Little Victories Animal Rescue Group. Activities include an interactive garden and petting zoo.

Hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 seniors, $1 for children (6-12) and free for children 5 and under.

Step into some traditional dance

Carole Prietzel, of the Ashland-based group the International Folklanders, has been coming to Huntington to get the community stepping in an Irish direction.

At 4:30 p.m. every Thursday since Feb. 25, Prietzel has been teaching an hour-long class in Irish dance at the Barnett Center, 1524 10th Ave., Huntington.

The class is $5 per person and open to the community. For more info, go online at www.huntingtoncommunitygardens.com.

A Pipestem full of Irishness

The Southern West Virginia Irish Heritage Festival group and Pipestem Resort, along the Bluestone River, team up to celebrate St. Patrick's Day like only they can this weekend.

They'll roll out the Irish Road Bowling at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, March 13, showing folks the old Civil War era game where you roll a 28-ounce iron cannon ball down paved roads. To learn more about Irish road bowling, visit the Web site www.wvirishroadbowling.org.

An Irish buffet will be available at Bluestone Dining Room from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The menu items include Eanna Muiceola, Irish stew, mussels braised with white wine and bacon, corned beef with dumplings and cabbage, Dublin coddle, Boxty potatoes with green apples, Gur cake and more.

On stage will be famous West Virginia musicians Buddy Griffin and George Daugherty. Daugherty, known as the "Earl of Elkview," has spent more than 25 years spreading the gospel of Irish music and has performed in concert with Irish folk musician Tommy Makem and storyteller James M. Healy.

Tickets for the evening performances are $5 and are available for purchase at the Hinton Visitor Center, Pops in Hinton, W.Va., and at Pipestem Resort State Park. For more information about the Irish Heritage Festival on March 13, call Pipestem at 304-466-1800 or visit the Web site www.pipestemresort.com.

Irish Spring Festival

Of course the little Gilmer County town of Ireland knows how to get that Irish party started.

The town, located just east of Burnsville Lake (off of Interstate 79), will host its annual and almost famous Irish Spring Festival on Wednesday, March 17, through Sunday, March 21.

The festival includes Irish road bowling, snake chase, an Irish jig, harp workshops, car show, arts and crafts, games, parade, food and more. Events take place at the Ireland Community Building. There are no admission fees, and times vary each day. Visit www.angelfire.com/wv/irishspringfestival or contact 304-452-8962 for additional information.

More Irish-themed roadtrips

A couple other great Irish-themed weekend road-trips: In central Kentucky, Fort Boonesborough will host a St. Patrick's Day weekend fest March 19-21 with a shamrock hunt, camper decoration contest, treasure hunt, NCAA basketball on the big-screen satellite TV, free putt-putt, free historic tours and more. Call 859-527-3131.

Last but not least, up in Dublin, Ohio, "Irish is an Attitude." Dublin is hosting its St. Patrick's Day Parade at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 13, which will draw some 20,000 spectators.

There's also a ton of St. Paddy's Day events that night including Mythhica at Brazenhead and the American Cancer Society Blarney Hop.

Go online at www.dublinirishfestival.org for more info about Dublin's famous Irish Festival set to run Aug. 6-8, with dozens of international acts including Natalie MacMaster, Solas, Enter the Haggis and many more.

Green team's got next

If you'd like a little mountain-grown hip-hop flavor on St. Paddy's Day, head to 20th Street Bar and Grill on 3rd Avenue in Huntington where the Huntington-based hip-hop group Northern Lights will drop its fourth CD, "The Green Team."

Made up of three rappers from West Virginia and two from New York, Northern Lights will celebrate the release of "The Green Team," which features everyone from 6'6 240 from Morgantown to a who's who of area artists from Bud Carroll to DoCeasar, Buzzy Shine and K-Kutta.

Check out the latest incarnation of Northern Lights that's got shows coming up in Washington D.C., Queens, N.Y., Atlanta, Toronto and Montreal Canada and Corby, England.

Copies of the CD will be available in Huntington at Now Hear This, Happy Camper, Scent From Heaven, Epicenter Tattoos, Borders and Petey's.

Read more about the new CD and the band's upcoming tour in Monday's edition of The Herald-Dispatch.

Play that funky trashgrass, Rumpke Mountain Boys

The infamous Cincinnati-based trashgrassers, The Rumpke Mountain Boys come a thrashing into the region for a couple big shows.

The End Zone, 422 N. 2nd St. in Ironton, brings the boys in for a free show at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 13. In Huntington, the V Club brings the boys back for St. Paddy's Day festivities on Wednesday. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the boys play 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Go online at www.myspace.com/rumpkemountainboys to hear the band that's playing everywhere from the Cincinnati Zoo to Hookah in the Hills and Terrapin Hill this summer.

Submitted Photo

The Two Man Gentlemen Band brings its eclectic sound to Shamrock's on Wednesday, March 17, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

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