Laurel McFarlane was a 24-year-old intern when she proposed the idea of a St. Patrick’s Day block party to the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation’s board of directors.
The year was 1996. Our economy was in a recession. With the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation’s funding running tight, the board had to take a leap of faith to continue operations. McFarlane, riding the success of her previous work on the Taste of Gaslamp, must have kissed the Blarney Stone. She proposed the idea of the ShamROCK festival, despite not knowing anything about event planning.
The board bought in. A tradition was born.
On March 16, 2024, the 28th annual ShamROCK festival will fill four blocks of downtown with a sea of green-clad revelers all claiming to be Irish. They’ll dance to Irish music, drink green beer and spend pots of gold that’ll keep the GQHF’s bottom line a wee bit more in the black.
That first year, ShamROCK offered only the bare essentials: a green Astroturfed street, one stage and a few Irish and non-Irish bands, and copious amounts of beer. It was an immediate success and raised enough money to do it again the next year.
“People embraced it, and they just loved it,” McFarlane says. “Who can’t be happy on Saint Patrick’s Day? I haven’t seen people being miserable dancing on astroturf and drinking green beer.”
Originally, ShamROCK used drink tickets for the purchase of beer–though that changed the following year. Festival-goers with leftover drink tickets demanded more beer after the festival ended.
Another since-implemented change revolved around who cleans up after the festival.
“To save money, we [the board] cleaned up after ShamROCK,” McFarlane says. “They all left me, and I was cleaning it up myself, trying to save money.”
She claims to have enjoyed sweeping up the post-party mess.
“It was really fun,” McFarlane says. “Some girl ran by and said, ‘Did you do this? It was the best night of my life!’ After that, I was hooked.”
Note: These days, McFarlane hires a cleaning crew for events.
After her first ShamROCK, McFarlane was encouraged to start her own company, McFarlane Productions. She did so with a business loan (complete with interest) from her father, and advice from the board, which recognized her passion and talent for event planning over the administrative work she’d been doing.
Cleaning crews aside, McFarlane now has a team of 10, with two to three employees working on separate projects six months in advance. Events like the Fall Back Festival, a children’s historical street fair set for September, are fully funded by the proceeds from ShamROCK.
The festival has expanded to include three stages and more than 50,000 square feet of Astroturf within a fenced-off section of the Gaslamp Quarter (between G and E streets and Fifth and Seventh avenues).
It’s returning to pre-pandemic heights, but two days before the 2020 event and in the wake of the oncoming shutdown, ShamROCK was canceled. All ticket sales had to be refunded. It was a massive financial blow to both McFarlane Productions and the GQHF.
Everyone was back in the same financial bind they’d been in 30 years ago.
Post-COVID, ShamROCK has slowly recovered. McFarlane knows some people are still wary about large group gatherings. Her team has made it a goal to re-establish ShamROCK as both a safe and fun community event.
McFarlane expects a sales uptick in 2024, given the increase seen in 2023 after the event’s return in 2022.
Look for an expanded VIP ticket tier with upgraded amenities (including posher restrooms). And, the party is no longer 21-and-up: family-friendly elements have been added. Kids (and adults) can play games or learn to dance the Irish jig.
The Field Irish Pub is a longtime partner. So is the Andaz hotel, which offers room upgrades and waives certain fees for guests who attend ShamROCK.
McFarlane wants ShamROCK to be seen as a cornerstone event in the Gaslamp.
“There are a lot of fans who have been with us for years,” she says. “It’s kind of a tradition for a lot of different vendors, and people. It’s become this little family that gets together once a year and puts on this event.”
More than a St. Patrick’s Day party, McFarlane sees it as a celebration of shared community. She recalls one couple who made a spur-of-the-moment decision to get married on one of the stages.
“It’s not this huge, name-brand thing, but it’s super fun,” she says. “It’s really fun to see people who are 70, 60, 20, dancing. It’s like a great dinner; you invite a bunch of different guests, not a bunch who are alike and everyone’s enjoying themselves. It’s a festival for everyone.”
To tailor a classic Celtic quote just for McFarlane: If you’re lucky enough to be an Irish block party planner, you’re lucky enough.
For more information, go to: ShamROCK. SDSun
