Green Beer Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Green Beer Day is a day-long party where celebrants drink a special, local beer turned green with artificial coloring or natural processes. It was started at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and has since spread to many colleges across the nation. Red beer day.
The exact date of the first Green Beer Day is a closely held secret by the Masons. Several sources cite March 1952 as the likely date of the inaugural event. The student newspaper published an article on March 14, 1952, discussing the consumption of "traditional dark green-colored beer" at The Purity - a long-gone bar in uptown Oxford. Since the newspapers are published on Friday - the beginning of the school's Spring Break - one can surmise that the original Green Beer Day would have been March 13, 1952, the day before.
The event began and continues each year in Oxford primarily due to the university's scheduling of Spring Break over the St. Patrick's Day holiday. Students each year make the rite of passage and celebrate the Thursday before Spring Break as an alternative to the holiday. Alcoholic beverages are served from 5:30am - the earliest you can begin pouring alcohol by law in the state of Ohio - to early the next morning. Green t-shirts, beads, hats, stickers, tattoos, and other accessories are worn throughout the day, much like during Irish-American celebrations on St. Patrick's day. Irish bands, DJ's and live music is offered for entertainment all day. After drinking and participating, it is Miami University tradition for students to attend the next classes in their schedules. Area restaurants serve green eggs and ham, green bagels with green cream cheese, and offer themed specials throughout the day.
2009 marks a unique year for Green Beer Day. Miami University's spring break does not fall over St. Patrick's Day as it has in past years. Students, however, continued the great tradition of celebrating Green Beer Day on the Thursday prior to spring break - this year, March 5, 2009. When students return, there will be an unfamiliar St. Patty's Day celebration on Tuesday, March 17, 2009. [1]
Miami students look forward to Green Beer Day each year as the time to obtain the annual Green Beer Day T-shirts and paraphernalia. Local stores and websites are dedicated to feeding the annual frenzy for parody-minded, Green Beer Day-themed shirts.[2] The shirts are often centered around around pop cultural references and famous slogans. It remains a tradition to get at least one new shirt per year for posterity. The shirts are often handed down to friends, relatives, or fraternity bothers and sorority sisters as prized possessions by graduates to incoming students.
Green Beer Day hold such significance with the students in Oxford, OH, that alumni groups and other colleges in Ohio have begun to honor that tradition. Chicago, IL and Washington, D.C., cities with notably large alumni groups, have annual Green Beer celebrations.[3] The 2009 Chicago festivities included a performance by the Rum Runners[4], a student band that gained popularity in Oxford in 2004-2006.[5] Ohio University decided to start copying Miami University a few years back and decided to start throwing their own Green Beer Day for no particular reason. It however is not nearly as popular as the original Green Beer Day held in Oxford.
- ^ http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2009/03/02/hjn030209greenbeer.html
- ^ http://www.greenbeerday.com/
- ^ http://media.www.miamistudent.net/media/storage/paper776/news/2009/03/03/Campus/Graduates.Celebrate.Green.Beer.Day.In.Chicago-3656637.shtml
- ^ http://www.myspace.com/cincirumrunners
- ^ http://www.funtimesociety.com/
