Philadelphia will take any reason to wear green and celebrate, so luckily we had another chance to cheers with our wonderful Philly community this month.

This past weekend I attended the Erin Express Bar crawl! I’ve never done a group and scheduled bar crawl before? My friends and I would mostly bar hop and avoid bars with covers, but in all honesty I was paying for the “free” swag that came with the ticket! So if you’re someone who comes across this post and debated or currently debating to try out Erin Express, you’re in luck!

To start, you can find ticket information at the link above (hopefully the link remains the same down the line). There are three different types of tickets; GA at $20, VIP I’m not sure what this was priced at but I would think around $50, and group ticket was $70 ($17 per person). There is also an early bird special which comes out to around $10. Each package is assured access to all food and drink deals at participating bars, swag, and free entry to participating bars (which is A LOT of bars). Swag includes beads, glasses, headbands, and I believe they had shirts at one point but those go quick. Now let’s do some quick maths, with a purchase of a GA ticket for $20 you can get into any participating bars that is listed on their site, which the list grows every year. McGillians had an additional cover of $10. Fado had an additional cover of $20, so pay $10-$30 to get into 1 or 2 bars or pay a one time fee to get into a bunch of bars! (Quick side not, these places with covers usually expect cash so include you tussling around to find cash in your bag.)

If you decide to go with other people, get the group ticket especially if you are a four person group. You save two dollars but honestly it’s the best two dollars you’ll ever saved. Drinks and food are additional costs, but you can get a discount for them or bars may have their own specials.

So I’ll cut to the chase, do it! It was such a blast to not have to pull out cash at bars to pay 40 different covers and it’s a fun way to try new bars! Side note, Fado and McGillians are not included. But I’ll still do it again next year. For this year, we decided to start at Lucy’s, the ticket buyer will get information about which bars let you pick up your wristbands, so be mindful about where you start. But if Lucy’s is on the list, hit it up! I’ve been before with my dance group after our final rehearsal before out performance so I can tell you the food is good. And after this weekend, so are the drinks! Although to be fair, I just got a glass (plastic cup) of red wine (which didn’t taste like it’s been open for 3 and half months so that’s impressive for a Philly bar). One last piece of advice, start early! We started around 1pm and got in and out a couple of bars with plenty of dancing room and lines at other bars were not super crazy, but expect to wait regardless.

Ahh good ol’ McGillians (I absolutely despise this place). I usually don’t run into a lot of problems at Philly bars, nothing poured on me, no one purposefully bumping into me, not being overstimulated. But McGillians, top three most overstimulating experiences. There are ten different vibe changes in the music, people are pushing and shoving to try and grope somebody else, people get beer glasses filled to the brim to unconsensually christen other people with it. It’s just the worst type of bar experiences wrapped up with a sticky bow. I swear to you, I’ve never had one good experience in that bar, which is why I usually tend to stay away from it. However when you are in your early twenties, you have friends who just turned 21 and want the crazy Philly bar experience and because you love your friends, you agree. Now I’m not saying “stay away from this bar, it’s awful!!” It’s definitely one of those bars where you should go at least once to say you’ve been, but maybe go for a lunch beer or something to avoid the crowd.

To wrap up I would actually love to go on about some of Erin Express’ history! The bar crawl had been created by several different members of already established Philly bars (Cavanaugh’s, Smokey Joe’s, and Mace’s Crossing) over 30 years ago. It had started as a very Irish celebration with traditional clothing, music, and parades. It is know a celebration for the whole city with new bars continuously being added and the addition of street closures for block parties. If you can’t think of any St.Patty’s day activities, seriously give this a try and be part of Philly’s historical city wide party!

Thank you so much for reading!! Have a wonderful day!