Story and photos by William Smith
When Gene Wilkerson and Lori Orth walked through the doors of The Beat Tavern carrying their bagpipes early Thursday afternoon, a warm crowd of St. Patrick’s Day revelers greeted them.
“Hey!” they yelled as Orth walked in.
Wilkerson, who held the door open for Orth and trailed behind her, couldn’t resist giving the bar patrons a little flack.
“Where’s my big greeting?” he asked.
“We gave you a ‘Woo!’” one of the patrons said, causing a grin to spread across Wilkerson’s face.
Then, Orth and Wilkerson walked to the front of the bar and started playing, filling their instruments with their own breath before blowing out that distinct Irish sound.
Several ovations from the bar patrons followed. Wilkerson and Orth were representing The O’Leary Brothers – a loose conglomeration of local bagpipe musicians that used to include Bill Malcolm and the late Tom Walz.
It was the first time Wilkerson had played bagpipes on St. Patty’s Day without Walz for quite some time. Walz, who was accurately known as Mr. Burlington due to his hardy volunteer spirit, died in December of 2021. Bill Malcolm moved to Florida.
Wilkerson didn’t wear a kilt this year, but he was clad in plenty of green.
“This is kind of the last remnants of it (The O’Leary Brothers),” Wilkerson said. “What was left of the core group is now gone. It’s just us.”
Across town, over at Kelly O’Shea’s Pub, seats were filled with even more St. Patty Day’s revelers – many of them clad in outlandishly green outfits.
“We always try to come out because it’s fun. My friend’s birthday is right before this, so we celebrate her birthday on St. Patrick’s Day,” said Danyl Garcia, who wore giant green glasses, decorated with even bigger letters that read “Happy St. Pat.”
Garcia and her friends started barhopping at 9 a.m. and were already on their third bar by 11:30 a.m.
“We’ll probably be out to the last man standing,” she said.
