The annual St. Patrick’s Day Dinner and Dance in the gym at St. Norbert Catholic Church drew approximately 170 people on Friday, March 8.
The annual dinner event, which has taken place for 58 years, is hosted by the St. Norbert Men’s Club which has an estimated 115 members.
“It’s a community event, fun,” said Michael Daly, a lifelong Northbrook resident, a graduate of Loyola Academy of Wilmette and president of the Men’s Club.
Daly, who also attended St. Norbert School, is among volunteers who make the event happen yearly for an all you can eat corned beef and cabbage celebration. The gym is decorated in green with festive lighting and people also don green.
“It’s a very traditional Irish event,” Daly said. “It’s just getting people together.
“You don’t have to be Irish to be here.
“A lot of people like to become Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” Daly said with a laugh. “It’s all about getting people together and just having a good time and enjoying each other’s company and this is just another fun event where we can do that.”
The ticketed paid entry evening included a raffle featuring Irish items such as Waterford crystal, an expansive open bar with specialty drinks (Irish Donkey, Grasshopper, Irish coffee as examples), and a Harrington’s Catering (of Chicago) sit-down table service dinner of corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes, apple pie and bread basket. The meal was rounded out by Harrington’s renowned condiment of signature horseradish. People could come after dinner too to pay a cover charge to watch entertainment after 8 p.m.
The evening included a blessing by Rev. Christopher Gustafson, pastor of the Catholic Community of Northbrook (St. Norbert and Our Lady of the Brook Parish).
Catholics traditionally do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent and the Friday St. Patrick’s Day occasion was a special exception or dispensation.
“It’s great to celebrate one of our great saints, St. Patrick and the Irish heritage, but it’s about much more than that,” Gustafson said. “It’s the community coming together in faith to share a meal.”
The pastor said the church launched a parish spiritual renewal initiative called Renew My Church, “to really create a culture of encounter with God,” Gustafson said. “We really worked hard in order to help people kind of focus in these ways.
“One of the pillars is, we belong together, the next one is, we journey together, we celebrate together and we witness together,” Gustafson said. See https://www.northbrookcatholic.church/renewal.html.
“And this is a kind of combination of all of that,” Gustafson said at the Friday evening party, “witnessing to our faith, wearing of the green, the Irish heritage, but celebrating and being friends with one another.”
Entertainment included the Sheila Healy Academy of Irish Dance of Glenview, the Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band and John McHugh and Company, a classic rock band fronted by guitarist John McHugh of Northbrook.
McHugh performed on a double neck guitar he made two decades ago named “The Bride.”
“I build my own guitars,” McHugh said.
“The first double neck I made was kind of thrown together on an impulse idea and so it was called Frankenstein,” McHugh said. “And so this one I built with the nicer details, the finer appointments, and all the bells and whistles that it needs to be a real practical instrument, so it became the Bride of Frankenstein.
“It plays great, it withstands the test of time,” McHugh said of his bride. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Rev. Joe Le, parish associate pastor, sang, “Danny Boy.”
Cara Regillio, 5, a kindergartner from Glenview, was among the young dancers performing with the Sheila Healy Academy of Irish Dance.
Cara’s mother Kristen Regillio said, “It’s so fun,” to watch Cara perform. “She did it last year too, so this is her second season and she loves performing so it’s just really fun to watch her.”
Cara has gleaned, “a ton of confidence performing in front of people,” Kristen Regillio added.
Sporting beards with Irish colors of (natural?) white, orange and green were regular volunteers and attendees Brian Bruce and Michael Furby, both residents of Northbrook.
It took about 20 minutes for Furby to color the beard. Green Irish trinket baubles could be added later.
“You spray the comb, and then you comb,” Furby said. “We tried it one time with trying to spray the face and it (dye) gets everywhere so you spray the comb and then you comb.”
The beard itself is dependent on spring weather.
“When it starts to get warm, it comes off,” Furby said.
The party is also an opportunity for people to celebrate birthdays and overhead was a table of friends loudly singing happy birthday to their honored guest.
Marc Elberts of Deerfield and Louis Schaller, formerly of Northbrook and now of Madison, Wisconsin, each had their birthdays acknowledged on March 8.
Schaller turned 22 and Elberts, wearing a vibrant birthday crown, said with a smile something about being or not being 29.
The Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band has been appearing at this St. Norbert gym celebration for years. Laura and Phil Fiskow of Northbrook are performers with Phil Fiskow carrying the American flag and Laura Fiskow on bagpipes.
Both wear kilts and have a local fan gallery of parishioners who offer the Fiskows hearty neighborly hellos.
For all well-wishers with the luck of the Irish, Daly summed up the memory maker.
“It’s just people getting together, breaking bread, and having a good time together,” Daly said.
“And that’s what tonight’s all about.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
