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Event

St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1981

Also 1981 St. Patrick's Party at the Shamrock

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Dates1981-03-17 – 1981-03-21
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Dates
1981-03-17 – 1981-03-21
Kind
Celebration
Where
The Shamrock · Holy Cross Catholic Church building
Followed by
St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1982
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunityheritageirish-arranmore
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The Beaver Beacon’s March 1981 issue reports two distinct pieces of that year’s St. Patrick’s observance: a special Mass with named lady singers, held the Saturday after March 17th rather than on the day itself, and a well-attended party at the Shamrock with a named four-piece band that played into the early morning.

Program

Six named women — Mary Scholl, Carol LaFreniere, Lil Gregg, Connie Wogan, Vera Timsak, and Jackie Martin — sang for a special St. Patrick’s Day Mass, held the Saturday following March 17th rather than on the day itself. Separately, a St. Patrick’s party at the Shamrock, hosted by owner Barbara Beckers, featured a band of Joe Moore, Edward Palmer, Phil Pittman, and Rich Scripps, playing until roughly 2:15 a.m., with celebrants reported still in party attire into Sunday morning.

Evidence limits

Both items are informal Beacon columns (a Junior Reporter’s thanks and an anecdotal item), not a structured event report; no attendance figures, proceeds, or organizing body are given for either the Mass or the Shamrock party. The source does not say whether the Mass singers and the Shamrock party were coordinated as a single organized event or were simply two separate things that happened during the same St. Patrick’s period; they are treated here as one edition on that basis. No Chicago or Lansing party report was found in the pages checked for this issue.

Open questions

  • Why was the Mass moved to the Saturday after March 17th in 1981, and was this a one-time scheduling change or a recurring pattern?
  • Was there a separate parish dinner or dance in 1981 that this issue does not report?

See also

Sources

  1. The Beacon's Junior Reporter thanks "the ladies who sang on St. Patricks Day (the actual Mass was held the following Saturday). The ladies included Mary Scholl, Carol LaFreniere, Lil Gregg, Connie Wogan, Vera Timsak and Jackie Martin." Separately: "If St. Patrick were alive today he would be proud of the party held in his honor at the Shamrock. The owner/hostess, Barbara Beckers has to be complimented on it," naming the band as "Joe Moore, Edward Palmer, Phil Pittman and Rich Scripps," playing until about 2:15 a.m., with the party reported as continuing well into Sunday morning. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1981-03_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held eighteen-page combined March and April issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the St. Patrick''s observance report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1981-03_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “St. Patrick's Day on Beaver Island, 1981”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-st-patricks-day-1981/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, March 1981, Jr. Reporter column (Michele LaFreniere) and untitled Shamrock item. (and 1 further source listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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