
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990                   TAG: 9003172144
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ST. PATRICK'S DAY ACTIVITIES

Here is a partial listing of St. Patrick's Day activities and Celtic music performances in the Roanoke area this weekend:

The Banshee will hold forth tonight at 10 Downing Street, the British pub at Potpourri.

No Strings Attached will play tonight at Mountain Lake Resort in Giles County.

Finger-style guitarist Stacy Hobbs and Becky Barlow on hammer dulcimer will play tonight from 6 to 9:30 at the Galeria Internacional restaurant on Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke. The duo will feature traditinoal Scottish, Irish and English tunes.

Second Wynde will play Monday evening from 5:30 to 7 at First Virginia Bank-Southwest, at Franklin Road and Jefferson Street in Roanoke.

The occasion is "Symphony After Five," a gathering of supporters of the Roanoke Symphony. Admission is $5.

Today, the Roanoke St. Patrick's Day parade begins at noon in Lee Plaza in front of the municipal building. Sponsored by the Roanoke Special Events Committee and WROV-AM and FM, the parade and other festivities are open to all. The paraders will march down Second Street Southwest, then down Campbell Avenue to the City Market, through the market and up to Church Avenue and then west on Church to Lee Plaza.

Frank Blankemeyer, noted tenor and meat-packing executive, is expected to give forth with songs of Ireland.

The parade will be preceded at 11:45 a.m. by a "spud race" in Lee Plaza, in which contestants will use broomsticks and the like to propel potatoes through an obstacle course.

Prizes will be given for best costume, best use of green and so forth.

After the parade, Valley Metro will provide bus service to at least seven eating and drinking establishments in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. The service, for those at least 21 years old, is called the Ring of Roanoke after the Ring of Kerry, part of the St. Patrick's Day festivities in that Irish town. Tickets for the transportation are $2. The buses will depart between 1 and 5 p.m. from Campbell Court, the bus line's downtown hub.

by CNB