Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Celebrating the Irish from green beer to Mulligan stew, music, royalty, parades & more March 12, 2025

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The Irish national flag flies outside an Irish pub in Wabasha. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

I’VE NEVER ATTENDED a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. I’ve never eaten corned beef and cabbage. But I have eaten Irish stew at The Olde Triangle Pub in Wabasha, although not on St. Patty’s Day.

Green beer outside a bar in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

I once spotted a partially-filled cup of green beer sitting outside a bar in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the day after St Patrick’s Day. I’m quite certain I’ve consumed an Irish lager or ale, although the beer was not colored green.

The Church of St. Patrick in St. Patrick. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

I’ve never attended a St. Patrick’s Day Mass, although I’ve photographed the exterior of the Church of St. Patrick, Cedar Lake Township in the unincorporated village of St. Patrick.

A tombstone in the Church of St. Patrick Cemetery. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

I am 100 percent German, although I had a full-blooded Irishman uncle (he died a year ago) from Belfast. He married into the family.

Now if any of this qualifies me to be an Irishwoman for a day, I will accept the luck of the Irish and don some green on March 17 or thereabouts.

The Olde Triangle’s hearty Irish stew. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

We can all be Irish in mid-March as communities, churches, restaurants and bars, and more celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In my region of southern Minnesota, you’ll find lots of ways to be Irish. Starting on Saturday, March 15, Sacred Heart Church in Waseca gets festivities underway with Irish music and Mass at 10:30 a.m. A Parade of Clans to The Mill Event Center follows at noon for an Irish rally. I take rally to mean a big party—food, including Mulligan Stew and corned beef and cabbage, served from a food truck; beer; music and entertainment; and more fun. At 7 p.m., Miss St. Patrick and Miss Irish Rose will be crowned. A dance follows. I should note here that Waseca is home to an Irish pub, Katie O’Leary’s Beef & Brew.

Signage on St. Patrick’s Tavern in St. Patrick. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

The tiny, unincorporated Scott County burg of St. Patrick, basically a church, cemetery, baseball field and tavern, is, of course, honoring the patron saint (and its name) via food and music at St. Patrick’s Tavern. The bar and restaurant along Old State Highway 13 northeast of New Prague will serve corned beef, cabbage and red potatoes on March 15 with a green beer on tap. Food and beer specials continue on March 17. There will be music both evenings.

Shamrocks in my yard, planted by friends. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Over in Le Center, a full day of Irish-themed festivities begins at 11 a.m. March 15 with Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Over at the American Legion, Mulligan Stew will be served from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. And then at 2 p.m., the big St. Patrick’s Day parade through downtown Le Center begins. Presiding over everything will be the newly-crowned royalty—Miss Shamrock, Miss Leprechaun and Miss Irish Rose. Dancing in the evening at the Legion wraps up the celebration.

A St. Pat’s Day decoration in a storefront window in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

In Owatonna, VFW Post 3723 is hosting a March 15 St. Paddy’s Day Dinner & Trivia party with dinner choices of corned beef and cabbage or Shepherd’s Pie, plus sides and dessert, served from 5-6:30 p.m. Irish Trivia follows at 7 p.m. with a chance to win a Pot of Gold. There will also be leprechaun races and other activities.

(Promo source: Paradise Center for the Arts Facebook page)

Music centers a high-energy show Saturday, March 15, at the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault as Twin Cities-based The Northerly Gales brings its spin on Celtic Folk and Americana to the stage at 7:30 p.m. And, yes, you can enjoy a beer while enjoying the music.

Patrick’s on Third anchors the corner on the left of this block in downtown St. Peter. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Over in St. Peter, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on the actual date, March 17. Paddlefish Brewing offers a special on its Leprechaun Lager. I expect the Irish and not-so-Irish will also gather at Patrick’s on Third for food and drink, including green beer. The Govenaires, the longest, continuously-operating drum and bugle corps in the U.S., performs in the 5:30 p.m. St. Patrick’s Day Parade and then briefly afterwards at Patrick’s on Third. The Governaires are traveling to Ireland in August to participate in the Rose of Tralee International Festival. They are encouraging donations of $17 on March 17 to help fund the trip.

Irish pride shows on the Kilkenny, Minnesota, water tower. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

So there you go, a sampling of St. Patrick’s Day activities happening in my region. But I must mention one more thing. If you want to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Kilkenny, Minnesota, you’ll have to wait. The Le Sueur County town of some 150 with the Irish name shifted its annual Irish celebration to September. Halfway to St. Paddy’s Day is set this year for September 13 and 14. Mark your calendars for more Irish fun six months from now.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Snapshots of Le Center April 5, 2018

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Parked along an alley in downtown Le Center, Minnesota.

 

WHEN THE WEATHER WARMS (it will happen soon in Minnesota, right?), I’ll have my camera out more. Documenting. Photographing. Showing you the places I visit, the discoveries made.

 

The original section of the Le Sueur County Courthouse was built in 1897 of brick and Kasota stone at a cost of $55,000. It was designed by Chicago architect Louis M. Curry of Mayo & Curry in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style. Additions have been made to the building and remodeling done.

 

Those include small towns like Le Center. It’s the county seat of Le Sueur County and about a 45-minute drive northwest of Faribault. It’s one of those communities you’d likely not drive to unless you had business or family there or were passing by en route to somewhere like St. Peter.

 

I love this row of well-kept old buildings in the heart of Le Center.

 

On a recent Saturday afternoon of road tripping, Randy and I stopped in Le Center. We parked downtown, popped into the thrift store minutes before closing, walked 1 ½ blocks along sidewalks and then looped back through an alley to the van.

 

 

I snapped a few photos. These images offer a glimpse of this community.

 

A front window in Mexican Delights, a downtown restaurant.

 

Diverse.

 

 

Patriotic.

 

Spotted inside a Le Center thrift store.

 

Trusting.

 

 

Lovely in aged buildings.

 

Assorted trucks and other vehicles were parked in a vacant lot and along an alley behind Main Street businesses.

 

You can tell a lot about a town in first impressions. I need to revisit Le Center, though, to uncover more of its personality. Small towns are each individual, as individual as the folks who call these communities home.

© Copyright 2018 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

A glimpse of Le Center November 10, 2015

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Driving northeast on Minnesota State Highway 99 toward Le Center.

Driving northeast on Minnesota State Highway 99 toward Le Center.

EVERY TIME I PASS through Le Center, I am in a hurry, on my way to somewhere else with no extra time.

Le Center, population 2,499 (not 2,500), is the county seat of Le Sueur County, a proper noun I find difficult to spell. The county is named after French Explorer Pierre Charles Le Sueur who visited the region in the 1700s while traveling the nearby St. Peter’s River, now known as the Minnesota River.

My view of this southern Minnesota community is usually peripheral, along State Highway 99. Winco on the north with “warehouse space available” bannered on the fence. The new Dollar General to the south. Then, a bit further, the municipal swimming pool, a diner advertising 99-cent burgers, service stations, the Le Sueur County Fairgrounds, the place that makes cheesecake… I always notice the NAPA store painted in the most hideous, yet distinguishable, blue. Off the highway, the grain elevator looms as a backdrop.

Beer Oil & Tire, not to be confuses with a business that sells beer in addition to oil and tires.

Beer Oil & Tire, not to be confused with a business that sells beer in addition to oil and tires.

The last two times I’ve been in Le Center, twice within a week, I convinced my husband to pull off the highway, also labeled as Derrynane. That name puzzles me for its oddity. But I was even more intrigued, entertained actually, by the signage on a local service station: Beer Oil & Tire. I read it as beer, oil and tire. You know how sometimes something strikes you as humorous but the person you are with doesn’t find the humor? I didn’t let that stop me from photographing this service station owned by a Beer.

The Legion does not limit its Steak Fry menu to steak. It also includes walleye, pork chops, shrimp, a full salad bar and kids' menu. The next Steak Fry is from 5 - 8 p.m. on November 28.

The Legion does not limit its Steak Fry menu to steak. It also includes walleye, pork chops, shrimp, a full salad bar and kids’ menu. The next Steak Fry is from 5 – 8 p.m. on November 28.

American Legion Post 108 recognizes the power of promotion by advertising its monthly Steak Fry on a portable sign parked along Minnesota State 99. Driving toward downtown, a sandwich board with the same info was planted smack dab in the middle of the street by the Legion. I still don’t understand the definition of “steak fry.” Are the steaks fried?

Le Center's muni welcomes deer hunters.

Le Center’s muni welcomes deer hunters.

Downtown, Le Center Municipal Liquors currently caters to deer hunters by offering Busch Light bottles for $3 during happy hour. I expect hunters will congregate at the muni with or without beer specials. But welcoming hunters with targeted signage seems a nice, and smart, thing to do.

What's behind buildings can also reveal a lot about a town.

What’s behind buildings can also reveal a lot about a town. This is downtown.

I noted a sign in a storefront window announcing the upcoming opening of a thrift store. That rates a return visit. I love small town thrift shops. Besides, I haven’t explored Le Center enough yet to fully understand its personality. I need to walk and poke around and duck into businesses.

© Copyright 2015 Audrey Kletscher Helbling